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 179

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

22 February 1909

Herbert Eustace Newton Bacheld
Gertrude Eliza Jones

Hubert Eustace Newton
Gertrude Eliza Jones
💍 1909/6657

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee

25
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
21 years

Holy Trinity Church

09/1353

22 February 1909

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

No	7
Date of Notice	22 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Eustace Newton Bacheld	Gertrude Eliza Jones
BDM Match (83%)	Hubert Eustace Newton	Gertrude Eliza Jones
	💍 1909/6657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	09/1353
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

24 February 1909

James Edward Doggett Bacheld
Amy Louisa Simpson

James Edward Doggett
Amy Louisa Simpson
💍 1909/6671

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

21
20

Lyttelton
Charteris Bay

2 years
20 years

The residence of Francis Deal Simpson

09/1343

Francis Deal Simpson (Father)

24 February 1909

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	8
Date of Notice	24 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Doggett Bacheld	Amy Louisa Simpson
BDM Match (86%)	James Edward Doggett	Amy Louisa Simpson
	💍 1909/6671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Charteris Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Francis Deal Simpson
Folio	09/1343
Consent	Francis Deal Simpson (Father)
Date of Certificate	24 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

24 February 1909

Henry Robert Turner Bacheld
Margaret Christina Nelson

Henry Robert Turner
Margaret Christina Nelson
💍 1909/6670

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

25
21

Lyttelton
55 Jackson's Rd Lyttelton

3 days
21 years

The residence of Amelia Nelson

09/1342

24 February 1909

Rev. A. Peters (Methodist)

No	9
Date of Notice	24 February 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robert Turner Bacheld	Margaret Christina Nelson
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Robert Turner	Margaret Christina Nelson
	💍 1909/6670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	55 Jackson's Rd Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Amelia Nelson
Folio	09/1342
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters (Methodist)

3 March 1909

Ernest Leslie Jones Bacheld
Susie Wyman

Ernest Leslie Jones
Susie Wyman
💍 1909/6636

Bachelor
Spinster

Sign writer

23
22

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
22 years

St. Saviours Church

09/1306

3 March 1909

Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

No	10
Date of Notice	3 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Leslie Jones Bacheld	Susie Wyman
BDM Match (85%)	Ernest Leslie Jones	Susie Wyman
	💍 1909/6636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sign writer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church
Folio	09/1306
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

11 March 1909

William Crichton
Ann Isabella Wilson

William Crichton
Ann Isabella Wilson
💍 1909/6672

Divorced
Spinster

Architect
Nurse

47
33

Wellington
Lyttelton

27 years
10 days

The Presbyterian Church, Wellington

09/1344

11 March 1909

Rev. J. G. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	11
Date of Notice	11 March 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Crichton	Ann Isabella Wilson
	💍 1909/6672
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Nurse
Age	47	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	27 years	10 days
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	09/1344
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Bates (Presbyterian)

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).