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 015

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1910 Registrar William 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

472

4 May 1910

Leslie Reginald Washer
Frances Ada Caroline Boughton

Leslie Reginald Washer
Frances Ada Caroline Boughton
💍 1910/3024

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

22
21

Ealing
Ealing

4 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10/3182

4 May 1910

W. W. White, Registrar

No	472
Date of Notice	4 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Reginald Washer	Frances Ada Caroline Boughton
	💍 1910/3024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Ealing	Ealing
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10/3182
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1910
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

473

7 May 1910

Robert Terris
Caroline Beswick

Robert Terris
Caroline Beswick
💍 1910/3455

Widower
Spinster

driver
domestic duties

61
47

Ashburton
Ashburton

9 years
5 years

At the dwelling of Robert Terris, Aitken Street, Ashburton

10/3345

7 May 1910

Rev. W. E. Lambert

No	473
Date of Notice	7 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Terris	Caroline Beswick
	💍 1910/3455
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	driver	domestic duties
Age	61	47
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Robert Terris, Aitken Street, Ashburton
Folio	10/3345
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lambert

474

16 May 1910

George Joseph Beach
Eva Grace Spence

George Joseph Beach
Eva Grace Spencer
💍 1910/3111

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer
domestic duties

51
19

Allenton
Hampstead

20 years
6 years

At the dwelling of John Henry Ewen, Rose Street, Ashburton

10/3261

Edward Spence, father of minor

16 May 1910

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	474
Date of Notice	16 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Joseph Beach	Eva Grace Spence
BDM Match (97%)	George Joseph Beach	Eva Grace Spencer
	💍 1910/3111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer	domestic duties
Age	51	19
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of John Henry Ewen, Rose Street, Ashburton
Folio	10/3261
Consent	Edward Spence, father of minor
Date of Certificate	16 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

475

21 May 1910

John McDonnell
Mary Ann Brakin

John McDonnell
Mary Ann Brankin
💍 1910/5819

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
domestic duties

40
33

Allenton
Wakanui

25 years
33 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

10/6172

21 May 1910

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell

No	475
Date of Notice	21 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McDonnell	Mary Ann Brakin
BDM Match (97%)	John McDonnell	Mary Ann Brankin
	💍 1910/5819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	domestic duties
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Wakanui
Length of Residence	25 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	10/6172
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell

476

23 May 1910

Charles Henry Wakelin
Dorothy Walker

Charles Henry Wakelin
Dorothy Walker
💍 1910/2916

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

28
29

Timaru
Richmond

3 days
15 months

At the residence of Arthur Bapow, Richmond

10/3010

23 May 1910

Rev. R. I. Liddell

No	476
Date of Notice	23 May 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Wakelin	Dorothy Walker
	💍 1910/2916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Richmond
Length of Residence	3 days	15 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Arthur Bapow, Richmond
Folio	10/3010
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. I. Liddell

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).