Intentions to Marry, 1913 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840453, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 042

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1913 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

29 January 1913

Frederick Luke Enderby
Martha Northway Lock

Frederick Luke Enderby
Martha Northway Lock
💍 1913/793

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Mechanic
Domestic Servant

45
31

Christchurch
Papanui

15 months
15 months

Registrars Office Christchurch

13/197

29 January 1913

Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	29 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Luke Enderby	Martha Northway Lock
	💍 1913/793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Mechanic	Domestic Servant
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	15 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	13/197
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

30 January 1913

Walter James George Harris
Mabel Nighsted

Walter James George Harris
Mabel Highsted
💍 1913/1857

Bachelor
Spinster

Striker

27
22

Christchurch
St. Albans

10 years
4 years

House of W. J. Nighsted, 36 Devonport Lane, St. Albans

13/1370

30 January 1913

Rev. A. Hardy Couch

No	62
Date of Notice	30 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James George Harris	Mabel Nighsted
BDM Match (96%)	Walter James George Harris	Mabel Highsted
	💍 1913/1857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Striker
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of W. J. Nighsted, 36 Devonport Lane, St. Albans
Folio	13/1370
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hardy Couch

31 January 1913

Frank Watson Dick
Mary Emolie

Frank Watson Dick
Mary Emslie
💍 1913/1861

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

33
33

Sydenham
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

St. Peters Manse, Woolston

13/1374

31 January 1913

Rev. T. McDonald

No	63
Date of Notice	31 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Watson Dick	Mary Emolie
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Watson Dick	Mary Emslie
	💍 1913/1861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Manse, Woolston
Folio	13/1374
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald

31 January 1913

Lawrence Burton Davies
Ellen Catherine Ditchfield

Lawrence Burton Davies
Ellen Catherine Ditchfield
💍 1913/1875

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookbinder

24
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
8 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

13/1414

31 January 1913

Rev. W. J. Bean

No	64
Date of Notice	31 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Burton Davies	Ellen Catherine Ditchfield
	💍 1913/1875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookbinder
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	13/1414
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Bean

31 January 1913

Charles Albert Keast
Ella Louise Gandin

Charles Albert Keast
Ella Louise Gaudin
💍 1913/1892

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

21
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 months
Life

House of M. E. H. Henderson, 13 Selwyn St., Spreydon

13/1407

Mother

31 January 1913

Rev. A. N. Scotter

No	65
Date of Notice	31 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Keast	Ella Louise Gandin
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Albert Keast	Ella Louise Gaudin
	💍 1913/1892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 months	Life
Marriage Place	House of M. E. H. Henderson, 13 Selwyn St., Spreydon
Folio	13/1407
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	31 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter

3 February 1913

Oscar Camille Müller
Ethel Annie Deavoll

Oscar Camille Muller
Ethel Annie Deavoll
💍 1913/4616

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

26
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
1 1/2 years

St. Michaels Church, Christchurch

13/14218

3 February 1913

Rev. H. D. Barton

No	66
Date of Notice	3 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar Camille Müller	Ethel Annie Deavoll
BDM Match (95%)	Oscar Camille Muller	Ethel Annie Deavoll
	💍 1913/4616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/14218
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. D. Barton

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).