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 099

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

546

23 July 1912

Charles Edward Brown
Mary Wright

Charles Edward Brown
Mary Wright
💍 1912/8748

Edward Ellis
Mary Wright
💍 1912/4103

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

28
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
11 months

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

12/4862

23 July 1912

Rev. T. W. Price

No	546
Date of Notice	23 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Brown	Mary Wright
	💍 1912/8748
BDM Match (68%)	Edward Ellis	Mary Wright
	💍 1912/4103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	11 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	12/4862
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Price

547

24 July 1912

Thomas Edward Brown
Margaret Elliot Main

Thomas Edward Brown
Margret Elliot Main
💍 1912/6683

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
3 days

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Christchurch

12/6525

24 July 1912

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	547
Date of Notice	24 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Brown	Margaret Elliot Main
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Edward Brown	Margret Elliot Main
	💍 1912/6683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Christchurch
Folio	12/6525
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

548

24 July 1912

George Rowley
Myra McDonald

George Rowley
Neyra McDonald
💍 1912/6684

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

25
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

St. Andrews Church, Christchurch

12/6526

24 July 1912

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	548
Date of Notice	24 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rowley	Myra McDonald
BDM Match (93%)	George Rowley	Neyra McDonald
	💍 1912/6684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Christchurch
Folio	12/6526
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

549

24 July 1912

John Mawson Shaw
Louisa Hack

John Mawson Shaw
Louisa Hack
💍 1912/6685

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

41
23

Riccarton
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Andrews Manse, Christchurch

12/6527

24 July 1912

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	549
Date of Notice	24 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mawson Shaw	Louisa Hack
	💍 1912/6685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	41	23
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Manse, Christchurch
Folio	12/6527
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

550

25 July 1912

Alfred Ernest Beardsley
Lucy Clark

Alfred Ernest Beardsley
Ivy Clark
💍 1912/7833

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

25
20

Christchurch
Addington

Life
Life

House of Mrs. Downing, 67 Poulson St., Addington

12/6061

Lucy Childs, mother

25 July 1912

Rev. R. St. C. Gray

No	550
Date of Notice	25 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Beardsley	Lucy Clark
BDM Match (85%)	Alfred Ernest Beardsley	Ivy Clark
	💍 1912/7833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Addington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Downing, 67 Poulson St., Addington
Folio	12/6061
Consent	Lucy Childs, mother
Date of Certificate	25 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. St. C. Gray

551

25 July 1912

James Forester Mackley
Constance Julia Theodora Brooke Hickson

James Forester Mackley
Constance Julia Theodora Brooke Hickson
💍 1912/9346

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

39
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
3 years

Anglican Church, Riccarton

12/8686

25 July 1912

Rev. H. York

No	551
Date of Notice	25 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Forester Mackley	Constance Julia Theodora Brooke Hickson
	💍 1912/9346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Riccarton
Folio	12/8686
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. York

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).