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 016

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1910 Registrar Williams Winsbury White

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

477

24 May 1910

David Alexander Shierlaw
Florence Maud Taylor

David Alexander Shierlaw
Florence Maud Taylor
💍 1910/3222

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
24

Southbridge
Hampstead

3 days
54 years

At the dwelling of Joseph Taylor, Hampstead

10/3282

24 May 1910

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	477
Date of Notice	24 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Alexander Shierlaw	Florence Maud Taylor
	💍 1910/3222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Hampstead
Length of Residence	3 days	54 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Joseph Taylor, Hampstead
Folio	10/3282
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

478

28 May 1910

John Bonifant
Mary Edith Coster

John Bonifant
May Edith Coster
💍 1910/2835

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
25

Ashburton
Nelson

54 years
6 years

All Saints Church, Nelson

10/2947

28 May 1910

Rev. W. S. Lucas

No	478
Date of Notice	28 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bonifant	Mary Edith Coster
BDM Match (97%)	John Bonifant	May Edith Coster
	💍 1910/2835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Nelson
Length of Residence	54 years	6 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Nelson
Folio	10/2947
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Lucas

479

28 May 1910

Henry John Brown
Evelyn Hope Brown

Henry John
Evelyn Hope Brown
💍 1910/2917

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

23
19

Allenton
Ashburton

33 years
14 years

At the dwelling of Llewellyn John Allenton

10/3011

Mary Dorothea Brown, Widow, Mother of Minor

28 May 1910

Rev. R. J. Liddell

No	479
Date of Notice	28 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Brown	Evelyn Hope Brown
BDM Match (81%)	Henry John	Evelyn Hope Brown
	💍 1910/2917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	33 years	14 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Llewellyn John Allenton
Folio	10/3011
Consent	Mary Dorothea Brown, Widow, Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	28 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell

480

1 June 1910

Thomas Bone Hamilton
Helen Hamilton

Thomas Cone
Helen Hamilton
💍 1910/3026

Bachelor
Widow

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

31
34

Lyndhurst
Lyndhurst

1 month
3 years

Office of Registrar, Ashburton

10/3184

1 June 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	480
Date of Notice	1 June 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bone Hamilton	Helen Hamilton
BDM Match (75%)	Thomas Cone	Helen Hamilton
	💍 1910/3026
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Lyndhurst	Lyndhurst
Length of Residence	1 month	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10/3184
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1910
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

481

4 June 1910

Harry William Startin Ashby
Ethel Grace Clayton

Harvey William Stantin Ashby
Ethel Grace Clayton
💍 1910/3223

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

23
28

Amberley
Ashburton

3 days
15 months

At the dwelling of F. T. Clayton, Laurea Street, Ashburton

10/3283

4 June 1910

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	481
Date of Notice	4 June 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry William Startin Ashby	Ethel Grace Clayton
BDM Match (95%)	Harvey William Stantin Ashby	Ethel Grace Clayton
	💍 1910/3223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	Amberley	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	15 months
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of F. T. Clayton, Laurea Street, Ashburton
Folio	10/3283
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

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).