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 095

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

522

15 July 1912

Richard Thomas Cummins
Clarice Lila Cummins

Richard Thomas
Clarice Lila Cummins
💍 1912/4943

Bachelor
Spinster

Bacon Curer

34
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
8 months

Residence of Mrs. Cummins, 7 Brougham St. Christchurch

12/4892

15 July 1912

Rev. A. H. Scotter

No	522
Date of Notice	15 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Thomas Cummins	Clarice Lila Cummins
BDM Match (82%)	Richard Thomas	Clarice Lila Cummins
	💍 1912/4943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bacon Curer
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Cummins, 7 Brougham St. Christchurch
Folio	12/4892
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Scotter

523

15 July 1912

Leonard Cecil Williams
Saral Jane Jennings

Leonard Cecil Williams
Sarah Jane Jennings
💍 1912/5282

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
24

Papanui
Papanui

3 days
15 months

St. James Church, Harewood

12/8889

15 July 1912

Rev. J. A. Julius

No	523
Date of Notice	15 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Cecil Williams	Saral Jane Jennings
BDM Match (97%)	Leonard Cecil Williams	Sarah Jane Jennings
	💍 1912/5282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	3 days	15 months
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Harewood
Folio	12/8889
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius

524

15 July 1912

Harold Read
Rosina Evaline Meyers

Harold Read
Rosina Evaline Meyers
💍 1912/6680

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
Life

St. Andrews Manse, Christchurch

12/6523

15 July 1912

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	524
Date of Notice	15 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Read	Rosina Evaline Meyers
	💍 1912/6680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Manse, Christchurch
Folio	12/6523
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

525

15 July 1912

Reginald David Buchanan
Margaret Elizabeth Tressler

Reginald David Buchanan
Margaret Elizabeth Tressler
💍 1912/4599

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
17

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
12 months

Registrars Office, Christchurch

12/4422

Martha Tressler, Mother

15 July 1912

F. Evans, Registrar

No	525
Date of Notice	15 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald David Buchanan	Margaret Elizabeth Tressler
	💍 1912/4599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Christchurch
Folio	12/4422
Consent	Martha Tressler, Mother
Date of Certificate	15 July 1912
Officiating Minister	F. Evans, Registrar

526

16 July 1912

John Walter McHolm
Margaret Tweedie Campbell

John Walter McHohn
Margaret Tweedie Campbell
💍 1912/6681

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

33
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Andrews Church, Christchurch

12/6524

16 July 1912

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	526
Date of Notice	16 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walter McHolm	Margaret Tweedie Campbell
BDM Match (94%)	John Walter McHohn	Margaret Tweedie Campbell
	💍 1912/6681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Christchurch
Folio	12/6524
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

527

16 July 1912

Thomas Hunter Caldwell
Ethel Rose Ellen Manning

Thomas Hunter Caldwell
Ethel Rose Ellen Manning
💍 1912/5071

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

29
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

St. Marys Church, Merivale

12/5985

16 July 1912

Rev. C. H. Gosset

No	527
Date of Notice	16 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hunter Caldwell	Ethel Rose Ellen Manning
	💍 1912/5071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Merivale
Folio	12/5985
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Gosset

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).