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 047

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

8 February 1913

Frederick Cyril Thompson
Catherine May Hampton

Frederick Cyril Thompson Swinbank
Catherine May Hampton
💍 1913/1961

Bachelor
Spinster

Stained Glass Artist

27
27

Linwood
Christchurch

3.5 years
Arrived Christchurch from overseas 8 February 1913

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

13/1399

8 February 1913

Rev. W. W. Sedgwick

No	85
Date of Notice	8 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Cyril Thompson	Catherine May Hampton
BDM Match (86%)	Frederick Cyril Thompson Swinbank	Catherine May Hampton
	💍 1913/1961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stained Glass Artist
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3.5 years	Arrived Christchurch from overseas 8 February 1913
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/1399
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Sedgwick

8 February 1913

James Henry Russell
Maude Kiltie

James Henry Russell
Maude Kiltie
💍 1913/2353

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
29

Halkett
Halkett

5 years
Life

St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch

13/1902

8 February 1913

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	86
Date of Notice	8 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Russell	Maude Kiltie
	💍 1913/2353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Halkett	Halkett
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/1902
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

10 February 1913

John Keatley
Margaret Hamilton

John Keatley
Margaret Hamilton
💍 1913/787

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

2.5 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/192

10 February 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	87
Date of Notice	10 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Keatley	Margaret Hamilton
	💍 1913/787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2.5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/192
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

10 February 1913

Percy William Fryer
Ethel Louise Gates

Percy William Fryer
Ethel Louise Gates
💍 1913/4688

Bachelor
Spinster

Student
Teacher

33
40

New Brighton
Ashburton

28 years
34 years

St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton

13/4290

10 February 1913

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	88
Date of Notice	10 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Fryer	Ethel Louise Gates
	💍 1913/4688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Student	Teacher
Age	33	40
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	28 years	34 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton
Folio	13/4290
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

10 February 1913

George Ernest Beck
Ellen Elizabeth Leatherwick

George Ernest Beck
Ellen Elizabeth Leathwick
💍 1913/1909

Bachelor
Spinster

Shunter
Saleswoman

29
23

Christchurch
Richmond

15 years
10 years

Baptist Tabernacle, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

13/1447

10 February 1913

Rev. J. J. North

No	89
Date of Notice	10 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Beck	Ellen Elizabeth Leatherwick
BDM Match (96%)	George Ernest Beck	Ellen Elizabeth Leathwick
	💍 1913/1909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shunter	Saleswoman
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Richmond
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Tabernacle, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	13/1447
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North

11 February 1913

George Morrison Yule
Mary Paterson

George Morrison Yule
Mary Paterson
💍 1913/1973

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

24
25

New Brighton
New Brighton

1 year
3 days

House of M. J. Buxton, 71 Sea View Road, New Brighton

13/1462

11 February 1913

Mr. D. R. Lanyon

No	90
Date of Notice	11 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Morrison Yule	Mary Paterson
	💍 1913/1973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	House of M. J. Buxton, 71 Sea View Road, New Brighton
Folio	13/1462
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Mr. D. R. Lanyon

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).