Intentions to Marry, 1908 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840438, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 189

District of Malvern Quarter ending 30 June 1908 Registrar A. Crumon

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

7 April 1908

Thomas George Hayden
Henrietta Coombs

Thomas George Hayden
Henrietta Coombe
💍 1908/5126

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

38
37

Springfield
Springfield

1 Month Residence
7 Years of Mr Broomfield Annat

08/3640

7 April 1908

Rev. J. R. Clark

No	4
Date of Notice	7 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George Hayden	Henrietta Coombs
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas George Hayden	Henrietta Coombe
	💍 1908/5126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Springfield	Springfield
Length of Residence	1 Month Residence	7 Years of Mr Broomfield Annat
Marriage Place
Folio	08/3640
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Clark

2 May 1908

Charles Leonard Bechens
Susan Henry

Charles Leonard Bicheno
Susan Henry
💍 1908/1

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic Duties

30
39

Annat
Annat

8 Days
7 Years

Primitive Methodist Church Annat

08/3637

2 May 1908

Rev. B. Dudley

No	5
Date of Notice	2 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Leonard Bechens	Susan Henry
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Leonard Bicheno	Susan Henry
	💍 1908/1
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic Duties
Age	30	39
Dwelling Place	Annat	Annat
Length of Residence	8 Days	7 Years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Annat
Folio	08/3637
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Dudley

5 May 1908

Edgar Alfred Adams
Edith May Early

Edgar Alfred Adams
Edith Mary Early
💍 1908/3908

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
38

Sheffield
Greendale

7 Years
28 Years

Primitive Methodist Church Greendale

08/3638

5 May 1908

Rev. B. Dudley

No	6
Date of Notice	5 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Alfred Adams	Edith May Early
BDM Match (97%)	Edgar Alfred Adams	Edith Mary Early
	💍 1908/3908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	38
Dwelling Place	Sheffield	Greendale
Length of Residence	7 Years	28 Years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Greendale
Folio	08/3638
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Dudley

9 May 1908

Joshua Alderson
Sarah Mabel Lucas

Joshua Alderson
Sarah Mabel Lucas
💍 1908/5125

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

39
24

Sheffield
Waddington

3 Weeks Residence of Mr J. Hodgson
5 Years Waddington

08/3639

9 May 1908

Rev. B. Dudley

No	7
Date of Notice	9 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joshua Alderson	Sarah Mabel Lucas
	💍 1908/5125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Sheffield	Waddington
Length of Residence	3 Weeks Residence of Mr J. Hodgson	5 Years Waddington
Marriage Place
Folio	08/3639
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Dudley

13 May 1908

Robert Fairbairn
Louisa Coombs

Robert Fairbairn
Louisa Coumbe
💍 1908/5127

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic Duties

26
26

Kirwee
Annat

3 Days Residence of Mr Broomfield Annat
26 Years Annat

08/3641

13 May 1908

Rev. R. Richards

No	8
Date of Notice	13 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Fairbairn	Louisa Coombs
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Fairbairn	Louisa Coumbe
	💍 1908/5127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Kirwee	Annat
Length of Residence	3 Days Residence of Mr Broomfield Annat	26 Years Annat
Marriage Place
Folio	08/3641
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Richards

6 June 1908

Samuel Eastgate
Georgina Robinson

Samuel Eastgate
Georgina Robinson
💍 1908/5128

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder
Domestic Duties

28
18

Broken River
Broken River

18 Months Residence of Mr G. W. Robinson
1 Year Broken River

08/3642

George Robinson, father

6 June 1908

Rev. W. A. Kyd

No	9
Date of Notice	6 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Eastgate	Georgina Robinson
	💍 1908/5128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder	Domestic Duties
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Broken River	Broken River
Length of Residence	18 Months Residence of Mr G. W. Robinson	1 Year Broken River
Marriage Place
Folio	08/3642
Consent	George Robinson, father
Date of Certificate	6 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Kyd

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).