Intentions to Marry, 1910 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840444, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1910a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 168

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 March 1910 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

24 January 1910

John James Harbidge
Ada Ellen McCarthy

John James Harbidge
Ada Ellen McCarthy
💍 1910/1567

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Music-Teacher

25
27

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
10 years

St. Joseph's Church, Lyttelton

10/1532

24 January 1910

Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

No	1
Date of Notice	24 January 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Harbidge	Ada Ellen McCarthy
	💍 1910/1567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Music-Teacher
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Lyttelton
Folio	10/1532
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

1 February 1910

Hugh McLauchlan
Elizabeth Reid

Hugh McLauchlan
Elizabeth Reid
💍 1910/1914

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

30
27

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
6 years

The Presbyterian Church, Lyttelton

10/1933

1 February 1910

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	2
Date of Notice	1 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McLauchlan	Elizabeth Reid
	💍 1910/1914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Lyttelton
Folio	10/1933
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

3 February 1910

Michael Edward Rafter
Grace Ella May Clarkson

Michal Edward Rafter
Grace Ella May Clarkson
💍 1910/1566

Bachelor
Spinster

Mail-clerk

24
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton

10/1531

3 February 1910

Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

No	3
Date of Notice	3 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Edward Rafter	Grace Ella May Clarkson
BDM Match (98%)	Michal Edward Rafter	Grace Ella May Clarkson
	💍 1910/1566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mail-clerk
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	10/1531
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

7 February 1910

William Ernest Cook
Annie Gertrude Justin

William Ernest Cook
Annie Gertrude Justin
💍 1910/270

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

28
25

Lyttelton
Auckland

28 years
12 months

Pitt St. Methodist Church, Auckland

10/266

7 February 1910

Rev. W. Ready (Methodist)

No	4
Date of Notice	7 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Cook	Annie Gertrude Justin
	💍 1910/270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Pitt St. Methodist Church, Auckland
Folio	10/266
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ready (Methodist)

10 February 1910

Thomas John George Rutland
Edith Patty Olliver

Thomas John George Rutland
Edith Patty Olliver
💍 1910/1564

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman
Milliner

33
26

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

7 years
26 years

St. Saviour's Church, Lyttelton

10/1529

10 February 1910

Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

No	5
Date of Notice	10 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John George Rutland	Edith Patty Olliver
	💍 1910/1564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman	Milliner
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	7 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Lyttelton
Folio	10/1529
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

5 March 1910

Frederick Ernest Sutton
Fanny Mildred Toomey

Frederick Ernest Sutton
Fanny Mildred Toomey
💍 1910/1565

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping clerk

23
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

23 years
25 years

Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

10/1530

5 March 1910

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

No	6
Date of Notice	5 March 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ernest Sutton	Fanny Mildred Toomey
	💍 1910/1565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping clerk
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	23 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	10/1530
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1910
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).