Intentions to Marry, 1909 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840441, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 178

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar W. D. Wallace

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

18 January 1909

James Donald Duff
Merina Fenton

James Donald Duff
Merino Fenton
💍 1909/7115

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Laundress

24
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

6 years
23 years

The Residence of Edward Feayly, Lyttelton

09/1324

18 January 1909

Rev. J. J. Bates, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Donald Duff	Merina Fenton
BDM Match (96%)	James Donald Duff	Merino Fenton
	💍 1909/7115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Laundress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Edward Feayly, Lyttelton
Folio	09/1324
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates, Presbyterian

19 January 1909

Arthur Vivian Coombes
Florence Louisa Francis

Arthur Vivian Coombes
Florence Louisa Francis
💍 1909/7180

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Officer
Milliner

22
24

Christchurch
Lyttelton

22 years
19 years

The residence of James Carson Scott, Matson's Road, Papanui, Christchurch

09/1427

19 January 1909

Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Vivian Coombes	Florence Louisa Francis
	💍 1909/7180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Officer	Milliner
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The residence of James Carson Scott, Matson's Road, Papanui, Christchurch
Folio	09/1427
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist

22 January 1909

Henry Edward Thompson
Annie Rutledge

Henry Edward Thompson
Annie Rutledge
💍 1909/1316

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Laundress

21
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

5 days
23 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

09/1209

22 January 1909

W. D. Wallace, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	22 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Thompson	Annie Rutledge
	💍 1909/1316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Laundress
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
Folio	09/1209
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1909
Officiating Minister	W. D. Wallace, Registrar

25 January 1909

William Peebles
Martha Readshaw Smith

William Peebles
Martha Readshaw Smith
💍 1909/7114

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 years
21 years

The residence of James Readshaw Smith, St. Davids St., Lyttelton

09/1323

25 January 1909

Rev. A. Peters, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	25 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peebles	Martha Readshaw Smith
	💍 1909/7114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The residence of James Readshaw Smith, St. Davids St., Lyttelton
Folio	09/1323
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Methodist

5 February 1909

Charles Edward Spittall
Maud May Coote

Charles Edward Spittal
Maud May Coote
💍 1909/6635

Bachelor
Spinster

Cutter
Tailoress

26
26

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 years
26 years

St. Saviour's Church, Lyttelton

09/1305

5 February 1909

Rev. W. D. Bean, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	5 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Spittall	Maud May Coote
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Edward Spittal	Maud May Coote
	💍 1909/6635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cutter	Tailoress
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Lyttelton
Folio	09/1305
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. D. Bean, Anglican

10 February 1909

Henry Fairthorne
Clara Wicks

Henry Fairthorne
Clara Wicks
💍 1909/6656

Bachelor
Spinster

Greengrocer

38
32

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
3 days

Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

09/1352

10 February 1909

Rev. C. Coates, Anglican

No	6
Date of Notice	10 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Fairthorne	Clara Wicks
	💍 1909/6656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Greengrocer
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	09/1352
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates, Anglican

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).