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 190

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 1911 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

10 June 1911

Robert Allan Bach
Hilda Tapley

Robert Allan
Hilda Tapley
💍 1911/3904

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
21

Governors Bay
Governors Bay

30 yrs.
21 yrs.

St. Cuthberts Church Governors Bay

11/3616

10 June 1911

Rev. F. W. Christian (Anglican)

No	29
Date of Notice	10 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Allan Bach	Hilda Tapley
BDM Match (85%)	Robert Allan	Hilda Tapley
	💍 1911/3904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Governors Bay	Governors Bay
Length of Residence	30 yrs.	21 yrs.
Marriage Place	St. Cuthberts Church Governors Bay
Folio	11/3616
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Christian (Anglican)

13 June 1911

Norman Stanley Cook
Lillian May Boyd

Norman Stanley Cook
Lillian May Boyd
💍 1911/3819

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

22
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

22 yrs.
5 yrs.

The residence of Edwin Boyd Exeter St. Lyttelton

11/3525

13 June 1911

Rev. B. F. Rothwell (Methodist)

No	30
Date of Notice	13 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Stanley Cook	Lillian May Boyd
	💍 1911/3819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	22 yrs.	5 yrs.
Marriage Place	The residence of Edwin Boyd Exeter St. Lyttelton
Folio	11/3525
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell (Methodist)

21 June 1911

Arthur Frederick Emmett
Mary Helen Stanger

Arthur Frederick Emmett
Mary Helen Stanger
💍 1911/3754

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway porter

31
33

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

2 yrs.
1 week

Roman Catholic Church Lyttelton

11/3435

21 June 1911

Rev. J. B. Daull (Roman Catholic)

No	31
Date of Notice	21 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Frederick Emmett	Mary Helen Stanger
	💍 1911/3754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway porter
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	2 yrs.	1 week
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Lyttelton
Folio	11/3435
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Daull (Roman Catholic)

21 June 1911

Albert Reynold Wilfred Prestney
Mary Edith Joyce Eames

Albert Reynold Wilfred Prestney
May Edith Joyce Eames
💍 1911/5153

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

24
22

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

2 yrs.
22 yrs.

St. Saviours Church Lyttelton

11/5008

21 June 1911

Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

No	32
Date of Notice	21 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Reynold Wilfred Prestney	Mary Edith Joyce Eames
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Reynold Wilfred Prestney	May Edith Joyce Eames
	💍 1911/5153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	2 yrs.	22 yrs.
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church Lyttelton
Folio	11/5008
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

28 June 1911

Thomas Mark Dean
Mary Crawford

Thomas Mark Dean
Mary Crawford
💍 1911/4686

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

33
26

Purau
Purau

25 yrs.
4 yrs.

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

11/4506

28 June 1911

W. D. Wallace Regr. of Marriages Lyttelton

No	33
Date of Notice	28 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mark Dean	Mary Crawford
	💍 1911/4686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Purau	Purau
Length of Residence	25 yrs.	4 yrs.
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
Folio	11/4506
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1911
Officiating Minister	W. D. Wallace Regr. of Marriages Lyttelton

29 June 1911

John Adamson Borthwick
Charlotte Elizabeth Monigatti

John Adamson Borthwick
Charlotte Elizabeth Monigatti
💍 1911/6278

Widower
Spinster

Marine engineer

36
26

Lyttelton
Christchurch

12 months
3 mths.

The residence of Edwin Arthur Emerson, 256 Worcester St. Christchurch

11/5745

29 June 1911

Rev. G. Miller (Presbyterian)

No	34
Date of Notice	29 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Adamson Borthwick	Charlotte Elizabeth Monigatti
	💍 1911/6278
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Marine engineer
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 months	3 mths.
Marriage Place	The residence of Edwin Arthur Emerson, 256 Worcester St. Christchurch
Folio	11/5745
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Miller (Presbyterian)

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).