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 103

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

570

6 August 1912

William Bainbridge
Ellen Winterbourn

William Bainbridge
Ellen Winterbourn
💍 1912/5073

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

38
39

Christchurch
St. Albans

3 days
5 weeks

Merivale Church, Papanui

12/5984

6 August 1912

Rev. C.H. Gosset

No	570
Date of Notice	6 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bainbridge	Ellen Winterbourn
	💍 1912/5073
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Merivale Church, Papanui
Folio	12/5984
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.H. Gosset

571

6 August 1912

Cecil Stephen Brooker
Elda Helena Roscoe

Cecil Stephen Brooker
Elsa Helena Roscoe
💍 1912/5021

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

27
21

Christchurch
Ladbrooks

3 days
3 days

House of A. Roscoe, Ladbrooks

12/4902

6 August 1912

Rev. S.E. Hill

No	571
Date of Notice	6 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Stephen Brooker	Elda Helena Roscoe
BDM Match (97%)	Cecil Stephen Brooker	Elsa Helena Roscoe
	💍 1912/5021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ladbrooks
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of A. Roscoe, Ladbrooks
Folio	12/4902
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. S.E. Hill

572

6 August 1912

Thomas Ernest Wills
Esther Greaves

Thomas Ernest Wills
Esther Greaves
💍 1912/6277

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

23
23

Springston
Springston

4 days
23 years

Methodist Church, Springston

12/5765

6 August 1912

Rev. C.E. Penney

No	572
Date of Notice	6 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ernest Wills	Esther Greaves
	💍 1912/6277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Springston	Springston
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Springston
Folio	12/5765
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.E. Penney

573

6 August 1912

Donald Hearne Gunn
Bertha Frances Beswick

Donald Hearne Gunn
Bertha Frances Beswick
💍 1912/6687

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
29

Weston
Christchurch

about 20 years
3 days

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Christchurch

12/6529

6 August 1912

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	573
Date of Notice	6 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Hearne Gunn	Bertha Frances Beswick
	💍 1912/6687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Weston	Christchurch
Length of Residence	about 20 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Christchurch
Folio	12/6529
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

574

6 August 1912

John Wilfred Nee
Catherine Winifred Bailey

John Wilfred Nee
Catherine Winifred Bailey
💍 1912/4606

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

20
20

Christchurch
Riccarton

3 days
6 weeks

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

12/4420

James Nee, Father; Charlotte Sarah Hodder, Mother

6 August 1912

F. Evans, Registrar

No	574
Date of Notice	6 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wilfred Nee	Catherine Winifred Bailey
	💍 1912/4606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	12/4420
Consent	James Nee, Father; Charlotte Sarah Hodder, Mother
Date of Certificate	6 August 1912
Officiating Minister	F. Evans, Registrar

575

7 August 1912

John Hessey
Constance Emily Lonargan

John Kessey
Constance Emily Lonargan
💍 1912/8751

Widower
Widow

Gentleman

64
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
12 years

Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes St., Christchurch

12/4865

7 August 1912

Rev. T.W. Price

No	575
Date of Notice	7 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hessey	Constance Emily Lonargan
BDM Match (95%)	John Kessey	Constance Emily Lonargan
	💍 1912/8751
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Gentleman
Age	64	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes St., Christchurch
Folio	12/4865
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T.W. Price

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).