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 180

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar William Dryburgh 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

3 April 1909

James Archibald Wallace
Margaret Wallace Steele

James Archibald Wallace
Margaret Wallace Steele
💍 1909/2115

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

33
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

6 months
3 days

The Presbyterian Manse, Lyttelton

09/3267

3 April 1909

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	12
Date of Notice	3 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Archibald Wallace	Margaret Wallace Steele
	💍 1909/2115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	6 months	3 days
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Lyttelton
Folio	09/3267
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

13 April 1909

Harry Hessey
Edith Williams

Harry Hessey
Edith Williams
💍 1909/2107

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
22

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
22 years

The Methodist Church

09/3260

13 April 1909

Rev. A. Peters (Methodist)

No	13
Date of Notice	13 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hessey	Edith Williams
	💍 1909/2107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	The Methodist Church
Folio	09/3260
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters (Methodist)

13 April 1909

Walter William Hender
Alice Mary Isabel Hillsdon

Walter William Hender
Hui Mary Isabel Hillsdon
💍 1909/2113

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

29
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
7 years

Holy Trinity Church

09/3265

13 April 1909

Rev. C. Coakes (Anglican)

No	14
Date of Notice	13 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Hender	Alice Mary Isabel Hillsdon
BDM Match (92%)	Walter William Hender	Hui Mary Isabel Hillsdon
	💍 1909/2113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	09/3265
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coakes (Anglican)

15 April 1909

Robert Alexander Pearson Jones
Elizabeth Mary Fenton

Robert Alexander Pearson Jones
Elizabeth Mary Fonton
💍 1909/2108

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
31

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

15 years
31 years

The residence of Robert Alexander Pearson Jones, Hawkhurst Road

09/3261

15 April 1909

Rev. A. Peters (Methodist)

No	15
Date of Notice	15 April 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Pearson Jones	Elizabeth Mary Fenton
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Alexander Pearson Jones	Elizabeth Mary Fonton
	💍 1909/2108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	15 years	31 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Robert Alexander Pearson Jones, Hawkhurst Road
Folio	09/3261
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters (Methodist)

3 May 1909

Donald Thomson
Johanna Veronica Broman

Donald Thomson
Johanna Veronica Brennan
💍 1909/2116

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
22

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

21 years
2 months

The house of Archibald Thomson, Dublin St, Lyttelton

09/3268

3 May 1909

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	16
Date of Notice	3 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Thomson	Johanna Veronica Broman
BDM Match (94%)	Donald Thomson	Johanna Veronica Brennan
	💍 1909/2116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	21 years	2 months
Marriage Place	The house of Archibald Thomson, Dublin St, Lyttelton
Folio	09/3268
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

5 May 1909

Thomas Robert Bagrie
Elsie Maud Wyatt

Thomas Robert Bagfie
Elsie Maud Wyatt
💍 1909/2110

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

29
20

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

8 years
10 years

St. Saviour's Church

09/3263

Maria Aldridge Wyatt (mother)

5 May 1909

Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

No	17
Date of Notice	5 May 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robert Bagrie	Elsie Maud Wyatt
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Robert Bagfie	Elsie Maud Wyatt
	💍 1909/2110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church
Folio	09/3263
Consent	Maria Aldridge Wyatt (mother)
Date of Certificate	5 May 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers (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).