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 277

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Alexander Montgomery

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

4 January 1911

Harry Basil Cooper
May Crosbie Smith

Harry Basil Cooper
May Crosbie Smith
💍 1911/9031

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Household duties

31 years
34 years

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
18 years

Methodist Church, Bank St, Timaru

11/1410

4 January 1911

Rev. Wm. Baumber, Wesleyan Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Basil Cooper	May Crosbie Smith
	💍 1911/9031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Household duties
Age	31 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bank St, Timaru
Folio	11/1410
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Baumber, Wesleyan Minister

4 January 1911

Walter Inder Guffie
Clara Bowden

Walter Inder Guffie
Clara Bowden
💍 1911/2004

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgeman
Domestic Servant

30 years
24 years

Timaru
Temuka

3 days
4 months

St Mary's English Church, Timaru

11/1352

4 January 1911

Rev. S. Trerice Adams, Church of England Clergyman

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Inder Guffie	Clara Bowden
	💍 1911/2004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgeman	Domestic Servant
Age	30 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Temuka
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's English Church, Timaru
Folio	11/1352
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Trerice Adams, Church of England Clergyman

5 January 1911

Harry Last
Gertrude Hill

Harry Lash
Gertrude Mayatta Hill
💍 1911/2064

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Grocer
Domestic Servant

39 years
25 years

Timaru
Harlow Kingsdown

2½ years
5 months

Congregational Church, Timaru

11/1468

5 January 1911

Rev. G. G. Hunt, Congregational Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Last	Gertrude Hill
BDM Match (76%)	Harry Lash	Gertrude Mayatta Hill
	💍 1911/2064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Grocer	Domestic Servant
Age	39 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Harlow Kingsdown
Length of Residence	2½ years	5 months
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Timaru
Folio	11/1468
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Hunt, Congregational Minister

4 January 1911

Francis Forsyth
Eleanor Agnes Jessep

Francis Forsyth
Eleanor Agnes Jessep
💍 1911/1901

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

25 years
22 years

Otaio
Timaru

6 months
6 months

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

11/1402

4 January 1911

Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Forsyth	Eleanor Agnes Jessep
	💍 1911/1901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	25 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Otaio	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	11/1402
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

10 January 1911

John Archibald Hammond
Jemima Stumbles

John Archibald Hammond
Jemima Stumbles
💍 1911/1781

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

32 years
26 years

Levels
Levels

3 days
6 weeks

Dwellinghouse of John Stumbles, Levels

11/1303

10 January 1911

Rev. George King, Presbyterian Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	10 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Archibald Hammond	Jemima Stumbles
	💍 1911/1781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	32 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Levels	Levels
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of John Stumbles, Levels
Folio	11/1303
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. George King, Presbyterian Minister

14 January 1911

Patrick Mahoney
Catherine Mary O'Hara

Patrick Mahoney
Catherine Mary Omara
💍 1911/4456

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Household duties

25 years
26 years

Timaru
Timaru

3½ years
8 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

11/1423

14 January 1911

Rev. John Lubman, Roman Catholic Priest

No	6
Date of Notice	14 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Mahoney	Catherine Mary O'Hara
BDM Match (95%)	Patrick Mahoney	Catherine Mary Omara
	💍 1911/4456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Household duties
Age	25 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3½ years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	11/1423
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Lubman, Roman Catholic Priest

18 January 1911

Wallis Henry Morris
Catherine Maria Montgomery

Wallis Henry Morris
Catherine Maria Montgomery
💍 1911/1902

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

29 years
36 years

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
20 days

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

11/1403

18 January 1911

Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	7
Date of Notice	18 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallis Henry Morris	Catherine Maria Montgomery
	💍 1911/1902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	29 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	20 days
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	11/1403
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell, Presbyterian Minister

23 January 1911

Edward Stanley Prince
Fanny Gould

Edward Stanley Prince
Fanny Gould
💍 1911/1965

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Domestic Duties

25 years
20 years

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
20 years

Dwellinghouse of Rev. J. H. G. Chapple, Highfield, Timaru

11/1493

Samson Reuben Gould (Father)

23 January 1911

Rev. J. H. G. Chapple, Unitarian Minister

No	8
Date of Notice	23 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Stanley Prince	Fanny Gould
	💍 1911/1965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Rev. J. H. G. Chapple, Highfield, Timaru
Folio	11/1493
Consent	Samson Reuben Gould (Father)
Date of Certificate	23 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. G. Chapple, Unitarian Minister

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).