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 294

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1911 Registrar Alex. 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

111

16 October 1911

Joseph Edward Beckingham
Letitia Ellen McClatchy

Joseph Edward Beckingham
Letitia Ellen McClatchy
💍 1911/8016

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

40
28

Timaru
Timaru

40 years
28 years

Dwellinghouse of Mrs Margaret McClatchy, Craigie Avenue, Timaru

11/8001

16 October 1911

Rev. A. E. Hunt, Congregational Minister

No	111
Date of Notice	16 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Beckingham	Letitia Ellen McClatchy
	💍 1911/8016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	40 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mrs Margaret McClatchy, Craigie Avenue, Timaru
Folio	11/8001
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hunt, Congregational Minister

112

14 October 1911

Alexander Primrose Forbes Petrie
Margaret Henry Lyall

Alex Primrose Forbes Petrie
Margaret Henry Lyall
💍 1911/8012

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
25

St. Andrews
St. Andrews

3 days
9 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church

11/7997

14 October 1911

Rev. F. R. Jeffreys, Presbyterian Minister

No	112
Date of Notice	14 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Primrose Forbes Petrie	Margaret Henry Lyall
BDM Match (92%)	Alex Primrose Forbes Petrie	Margaret Henry Lyall
	💍 1911/8012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	11/7997
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. R. Jeffreys, Presbyterian Minister

113

28 October 1911

John Leonard Roderick Campbell, known as Ogilvie
Isabel Mabel Mitchell

John Leonard Roderick Ogilvie
Isabel Mabel Mitchell
💍 1911/6582

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Household duties

21
19

Timaru
Timaru

15 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Timaru

11/6602

Andrew Mitchell (Father)

28 October 1911

Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

No	113
Date of Notice	28 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Leonard Roderick Campbell, known as Ogilvie	Isabel Mabel Mitchell
BDM Match (80%)	John Leonard Roderick Ogilvie	Isabel Mabel Mitchell
	💍 1911/6582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Household duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	15 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	11/6602
Consent	Andrew Mitchell (Father)
Date of Certificate	28 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Alex. Montgomery, Registrar

114

31 October 1911

George Philip Shear
Elizabeth Snowdrop Shear

George Philip
Elizabeth Snowdrop Sheare
💍 1911/8030

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

28
24

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
3 weeks

St. Mary's English Church, Timaru

11/7991

31 October 1911

Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman

No	114
Date of Notice	31 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Philip Shear	Elizabeth Snowdrop Shear
BDM Match (82%)	George Philip	Elizabeth Snowdrop Sheare
	💍 1911/8030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's English Church, Timaru
Folio	11/7991
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon H. W. Harper, Church of England Clergyman

115

4 November 1911

James Alexander Fraser
Jane Isabel Copland

James Alexander Fraser
Jane Isabel Copland
💍 1911/8013

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

24
29

St. Andrews
St. Andrews

4 years
29 years

Residence of Alexander Copland, Brookfield, St. Andrews

11/7998

4 November 1911

Rev. F. R. Jeffreys, Presbyterian Minister

No	115
Date of Notice	4 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Fraser	Jane Isabel Copland
	💍 1911/8013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	St. Andrews	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	4 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alexander Copland, Brookfield, St. Andrews
Folio	11/7998
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. R. Jeffreys, Presbyterian Minister

116

8 November 1911

James McMueben
Clara Rubina Shaab

James McMeekin
Clara Rubina Shaab
💍 1911/8558

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Waitress

29
26

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
26 years

Roman Catholic Priory, Timaru

11/8572

8 November 1911

Dean Lubmaw, Roman Catholic Priest

No	116
Date of Notice	8 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McMueben	Clara Rubina Shaab
BDM Match (89%)	James McMeekin	Clara Rubina Shaab
	💍 1911/8558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Waitress
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Priory, Timaru
Folio	11/8572
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1911
Officiating Minister	Dean Lubmaw, Roman Catholic Priest

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).