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 112

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

618

24 August 1912

David Longshaw
Etty Helen Taylor

David Longshaw
Etty Helen Taylor
💍 1912/8071

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
5 years

House of Mrs James, 7. Lancaster St, Christchurch

12/6534

24 August 1912

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	618
Date of Notice	24 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Longshaw	Etty Helen Taylor
	💍 1912/8071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs James, 7. Lancaster St, Christchurch
Folio	12/6534
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

619

26 August 1912

Michael Slater
Mary Elizabeth Cuming

Michael Slater
Mary Elizabeth Cuming
💍 1912/9508

Divorced
Divorced

Advertising Agent

45
44

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
37 years

Registrars Office Christchurch

12/4436

26 August 1912

F. Evans Registrar

No	619
Date of Notice	26 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Slater	Mary Elizabeth Cuming
	💍 1912/9508
Condition	Divorced	Divorced
Profession	Advertising Agent
Age	45	44
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	12/4436
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1912
Officiating Minister	F. Evans Registrar

620

26 August 1912

Herbert Mathias French
Edith Ellen Webb

Herbert Mathias French
Edith Ellen Webb
💍 1912/4942

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
dressmaker

27
23

Sydenham
Sydenham

15 years
20 years

Baptist Church Elgin St. Sydenham

12/4891

26 August 1912

Rev. T. A. Williams

No	620
Date of Notice	26 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Mathias French	Edith Ellen Webb
	💍 1912/4942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	dressmaker
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Elgin St. Sydenham
Folio	12/4891
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Williams

621

27 August 1912

Nils Arnold Friberg
Elizabeth Baird Luxton

Nils Arnold Friberg
Elizabeth Baird Luxton
💍 1912/6376

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Artist

44
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
29 years

St. Johns Church Christchurch

12/6039

27 August 1912

Rev. H. Purchas

No	621
Date of Notice	27 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nils Arnold Friberg	Elizabeth Baird Luxton
	💍 1912/6376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Artist
Age	44	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church Christchurch
Folio	12/6039
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Purchas

622

27 August 1912

Henry William Freed
Catherine Murdoch Galbraith

Henry William Freed
Catherine Murdoch Galbraith
💍 1912/9509

Bachelor
Spinster

Slater

26
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

Registrars Office Christchurch

12/4437

27 August 1912

F. Evans Registrar

No	622
Date of Notice	27 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Freed	Catherine Murdoch Galbraith
	💍 1912/9509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slater
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	12/4437
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1912
Officiating Minister	F. Evans Registrar

623

27 August 1912

William Clarke
Alice Evelyn Tonkin

William Clarke
Alice Eveline Tonkin
💍 1912/8673

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

21
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
2 years

House of Mrs J. Ward, 114, Salisbury St. Christchurch

12/8101

27 August 1912

Rev. W. S. Sedgwick

No	623
Date of Notice	27 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clarke	Alice Evelyn Tonkin
BDM Match (95%)	William Clarke	Alice Eveline Tonkin
	💍 1912/8673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs J. Ward, 114, Salisbury St. Christchurch
Folio	12/8101
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Sedgwick

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).