Intentions to Marry, 1912 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840450, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 233

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 September 1912 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 1912

John Robert Smith
Edith Doreas Emily Mitchell

John Robert Smith
Edith Dorcas Emily Mitchell
💍 1912/6000

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic servant

22
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

7 days
6 weeks

The Presbyterian Manse

12/5065

2 July 1912

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	23
Date of Notice	2 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Smith	Edith Doreas Emily Mitchell
BDM Match (98%)	John Robert Smith	Edith Dorcas Emily Mitchell
	💍 1912/6000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic servant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	7 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse
Folio	12/5065
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

2 July 1912

John Basil Radcliffe
Rose Garlick

John Basil Radcliffe
Rose Garlick
💍 1912/6538

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic servant

31
20

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

31 years
12 months

St. Cuthbert's Church, Governor's Bay

12/6378

W. Garlick (father)

2 July 1912

Rev. G. W. Christian (Anglican)

No	24
Date of Notice	2 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Basil Radcliffe	Rose Garlick
	💍 1912/6538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic servant
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	31 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Cuthbert's Church, Governor's Bay
Folio	12/6378
Consent	W. Garlick (father)
Date of Certificate	2 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Christian (Anglican)

4 July 1912

Robert Lendrick Sproule
Catherine Jardine

Robert Lendrick Sproule
Catherine Jardine
💍 1912/6287

Bachelor
Spinster

Master-mariner

39
27

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

14 years
2 years

The residence of William Joseph Harkess, Cunningham Terrace, Lyttelton

12/5775

4 July 1912

Rev. B. Y. Rothwell (Methodist)

No	25
Date of Notice	4 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lendrick Sproule	Catherine Jardine
	💍 1912/6287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master-mariner
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The residence of William Joseph Harkess, Cunningham Terrace, Lyttelton
Folio	12/5775
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Y. Rothwell (Methodist)

10 July 1912

Francis Joseph Hautphenne
Louisa Hepburn

Frans Jozef Hautphorne
Lousia Hepburn
💍 1912/4983

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook & Steward
Nurse

33
32

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

1 day
5 days

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

12/4685

10 July 1912

W. D. Wallace (Registrar)

No	26
Date of Notice	10 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Hautphenne	Louisa Hepburn
BDM Match (79%)	Frans Jozef Hautphorne	Lousia Hepburn
	💍 1912/4983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook & Steward	Nurse
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	1 day	5 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
Folio	12/4685
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1912
Officiating Minister	W. D. Wallace (Registrar)

11 July 1912

Ernest Palliser
Jane Scott

Ernest Palliser
Jane Scott
💍 1912/6001

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

27
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

2 years
3 years

The Royal Hotel, Lyttelton

12/5066

11 July 1912

Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

No	27
Date of Notice	11 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Palliser	Jane Scott
	💍 1912/6001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Royal Hotel, Lyttelton
Folio	12/5066
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates (Presbyterian)

5 August 1912

John Curry
Letitia McConville

John Curry
Letitia McConville
💍 1912/5999

Bachelor
Spinster

Station master
Telephone exchange attendant

27
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 days
8 months

The Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton

12/5064

5 August 1912

Rev. P. Cooney (Roman Catholic)

No	28
Date of Notice	5 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Curry	Letitia McConville
	💍 1912/5999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station master	Telephone exchange attendant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 days	8 months
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	12/5064
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1912
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).