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 091

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1912 Registrar Frank Evans

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

498

1 July 1912

Thomas John Page
Mary Jane Thomson

Thomas John Page
Mary Jane Thomson
💍 1912/4951

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Servant

38
35

Christchurch
New Brighton

3 days
4 yrs

Residence of Mr. Thomson, Mersey St. St. Albans

12/4899

1 July 1912

Rev. J. Oliver

No	498
Date of Notice	1 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Page	Mary Jane Thomson
	💍 1912/4951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Servant
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	New Brighton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Thomson, Mersey St. St. Albans
Folio	12/4899
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Oliver

499

1 July 1912

John Samuel Wilson
Cicely Alice Perry Simpson

John Samuel Wilson
Cicily Alice Perry Simpson
💍 1912/5029

Widower, Feby. 28, 1907
Spinster

Coal Merchant

38
40

Christchurch
Papanui

Life
Life

Residence of Mr. Simpson, Park Road, Papanui

12/4904

1 July 1912

Rev. A. Peters

No	499
Date of Notice	1 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel Wilson	Cicely Alice Perry Simpson
BDM Match (98%)	John Samuel Wilson	Cicily Alice Perry Simpson
	💍 1912/5029
Condition	Widower, Feby. 28, 1907	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant
Age	38	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Simpson, Park Road, Papanui
Folio	12/4904
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters

500

1 July 1912

John Henry Birrell
Eliza Gould

John Henry Birrell
Eliza Gould
💍 1912/5702

Bachelor
Spinster

gardener

50
52

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 yrs
18 yrs

St. Pauls Church, Christchurch

12/4846

1 July 1912

Rev. T. Tait

No	500
Date of Notice	1 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Birrell	Eliza Gould
	💍 1912/5702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	gardener
Age	50	52
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 yrs	18 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Christchurch
Folio	12/4846
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Tait

501

1 July 1912

James Charles Gillespie
Margaret Adelaide Wallace

James Charles Gillespie
Margaret Aladide Wallace
💍 1912/8746

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic duties

24
24

St. Albans
Christchurch

20 yrs
15 yrs

St. Lukes Church, Christchurch

12/4860

1 July 1912

Rev. W.W. Sedgwick

No	501
Date of Notice	1 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles Gillespie	Margaret Adelaide Wallace
BDM Match (94%)	James Charles Gillespie	Margaret Aladide Wallace
	💍 1912/8746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 yrs	15 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Christchurch
Folio	12/4860
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.W. Sedgwick

502

1 July 1912

John George Ellis Weekes
Louisa May Pascoe

John George Ellis Weekes
Louisa May Pascoe
💍 1912/5015

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

35
25

Heathcote
Heathcote

9 mos
9 mos

St. Marys Church, Heathcote

12/4915

1 July 1912

Rev. J. de B. Galway

No	502
Date of Notice	1 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Ellis Weekes	Louisa May Pascoe
	💍 1912/5015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Heathcote	Heathcote
Length of Residence	9 mos	9 mos
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Heathcote
Folio	12/4915
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. de B. Galway

503

2 July 1912

Thomas Murray
Margaret Welch

Thomas Murray
Margaret Welsh
💍 1912/4615

Thomas Bowman Murray
Margaret OBrien
💍 1912/4411

Bachelor
Widow, December 10, 1910

Farmer

56
56

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Christchurch

12/4414

2 July 1912

F. Evans, Registrar

No	503
Date of Notice	2 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Murray	Margaret Welch
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Murray	Margaret Welsh
	💍 1912/4615
BDM Match (63%)	Thomas Bowman Murray	Margaret OBrien
	💍 1912/4411
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, December 10, 1910
Profession	Farmer
Age	56	56
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Christchurch
Folio	12/4414
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1912
Officiating Minister	F. Evans, Registrar

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).