Intentions to Marry, 1911 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840447, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 188

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 1911 Registrar H 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

8 April 1911

George Mylrea Scott
Eugenie Augustine Cole

George Mylrea Scotts
Eugenie Augustine Cole
💍 1911/3902

Bachelor
Widow

Marine engineer

36
31

Lyttelton
Allandale

(at sea)
5 months

St. Cuthberts Church, Governors Bay

11/3614

8 April 1911

Rev. G. W. Christian (Anglican)

No	17
Date of Notice	8 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mylrea Scott	Eugenie Augustine Cole
BDM Match (98%)	George Mylrea Scotts	Eugenie Augustine Cole
	💍 1911/3902
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Marine engineer
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Allandale
Length of Residence	(at sea)	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Cuthberts Church, Governors Bay
Folio	11/3614
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Christian (Anglican)

10 April 1911

Percy Beaumont
Mary Jane Devine

Percy Beaumont
Mary Jane Devine
💍 1911/6217

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright

25
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

25 years
24 years

St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton

11/6108

10 April 1911

Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

No	18
Date of Notice	10 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Beaumont	Mary Jane Devine
	💍 1911/6217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton
Folio	11/6108
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

10 April 1911

Charles William Small
Mary Ellen Harkess

Charles William Small
Mary Ellen Harkess
💍 1911/6387

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

25 years
21 years

Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

11/6133

10 April 1911

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

No	19
Date of Notice	10 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Small	Mary Ellen Harkess
	💍 1911/6387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	11/6133
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

11 April 1911

James Preston
Ruth Wilson

James Preston
Ruth Wilson
💍 1911/3755

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat inspector
School teacher

31
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 years
25 years

St. Johns Church, Lyttelton

11/3436

11 April 1911

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	20
Date of Notice	11 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Preston	Ruth Wilson
	💍 1911/3755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat inspector	School teacher
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church, Lyttelton
Folio	11/3436
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

19 April 1911

Watson Walker Thompson
Evelina Ethel Jones

Watson Walker Thompson
Evelina Ethel Jones
💍 1911/6388

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway porter
Milliner

25
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

12 months
21 years

Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

11/6134

19 April 1911

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

No	21
Date of Notice	19 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Watson Walker Thompson	Evelina Ethel Jones
	💍 1911/6388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway porter	Milliner
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	12 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	11/6134
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

21 April 1911

Thomas Aloysius Mahar
Gertrude Mary Toomey

Thomas Aloyoius Maher
Gertrude Mary Toomey
💍 1911/3757

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

27
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

27 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton

11/3438

21 April 1911

Rev. J. B. Daull (Roman Catholic)

No	22
Date of Notice	21 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Aloysius Mahar	Gertrude Mary Toomey
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Aloyoius Maher	Gertrude Mary Toomey
	💍 1911/3757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	27 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	11/3438
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Daull (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).