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 172

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 September 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

2 July 1910

James Henry Evans
Mary Emma Railton

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

12 months
6 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

2 July 1910

W. D. Wallace, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	2 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Evans	Mary Emma Railton
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	12 months	6 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1910
Officiating Minister	W. D. Wallace, Registrar

14 July 1910

John O'Shea
Margaret Haven McCoy

John O'Shea
Margaret Haven McCoy
💍 1910/4684

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

21
22

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

18 months
6 months

The Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton

10/4865

14 July 1910

Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

No	15
Date of Notice	14 July 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Shea	Margaret Haven McCoy
	💍 1910/4684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	18 months	6 months
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	10/4865
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

10 August 1910

James Hooper
Beatrice Young

James Hooper
Beatrice Young
💍 1910/4685

James Hunter
Mary Young
💍 1910/7938

Bachelor
Spinster

Freezer

30
28

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
28 years

The Roman Catholic Presbytery, Lyttelton

10/4866

10 August 1910

Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

No	16
Date of Notice	10 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hooper	Beatrice Young
	💍 1910/4685
BDM Match (66%)	James Hunter	Mary Young
	💍 1910/7938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Freezer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Presbytery, Lyttelton
Folio	10/4866
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

6 September 1910

Matthew Mark Stanley Thomas
Hilda Mary Hogland

Matthew Mark Stanley Thomas
Hilda Mary Hoglund
💍 1910/4857

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway-employee

28
21

Quail Island
Quail Island

4 days
14 days

The residence of William John Thomas, Quail Island

10/5046

6 September 1910

Rev. D. Fitzgerald (Anglican)

No	17
Date of Notice	6 September 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Mark Stanley Thomas	Hilda Mary Hogland
BDM Match (97%)	Matthew Mark Stanley Thomas	Hilda Mary Hoglund
	💍 1910/4857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway-employee
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Quail Island	Quail Island
Length of Residence	4 days	14 days
Marriage Place	The residence of William John Thomas, Quail Island
Folio	10/5046
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Fitzgerald (Anglican)

15 September 1910

Thomas Alfred Lanyon
Margaret Aileen Higgins

Thomas Alfred Lanyon
Margaret Alleen Higgins
💍 1910/4674

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredge hand

29
29

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

29 years
12 months

The Roman Catholic Presbytery, Lyttelton

10/4867

15 September 1910

Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

No	18
Date of Notice	15 September 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Lanyon	Margaret Aileen Higgins
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Alfred Lanyon	Margaret Alleen Higgins
	💍 1910/4674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredge hand
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	29 years	12 months
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Presbytery, Lyttelton
Folio	10/4867
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

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).