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 073

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

229

24 March 1913

Arthur Henry Price
Elsie Stevens

Arthur Henry Price
Elsie Stevens
💍 1913/1974

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Dressmaker

27
23

Lydenham
Lydenham

4 days
1 year

House of Mr. Charles Stevens, 31 Seddon Street, Lydenham

13/146

24 March 1913

Rev. C. Murray

No	229
Date of Notice	24 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Price	Elsie Stevens
	💍 1913/1974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Dressmaker
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Lydenham	Lydenham
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Charles Stevens, 31 Seddon Street, Lydenham
Folio	13/146
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray

230

24 March 1913

David Arthur Bradley
Sarah Debenham

David Arthur Bradley
Sarah De Baiham
💍 1913/1865

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

28
35

Christchurch
St. Albans

5 days
5 weeks

St. Matthews Church

13/1355

24 March 1913

Rev. P.B. Haggitt

No	230
Date of Notice	24 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Arthur Bradley	Sarah Debenham
BDM Match (87%)	David Arthur Bradley	Sarah De Baiham
	💍 1913/1865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	28	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	5 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	13/1355
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.B. Haggitt

231

24 March 1913

Frederick Humphrey Dare Gale
Violet Ann Gee

Frederick Humphrey Dane Gali
Violet Ann Gei
💍 1913/4537

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

24
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
7 years

St. Saviour's Anglican Church

13/4114

24 March 1913

Rev. P.J. Cocks

No	231
Date of Notice	24 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Humphrey Dare Gale	Violet Ann Gee
BDM Match (93%)	Frederick Humphrey Dane Gali	Violet Ann Gei
	💍 1913/4537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Anglican Church
Folio	13/4114
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.J. Cocks

232

24 March 1913

William Levin Thompson
Sarah Grace Davidson

William Levin Thompson
Sarah Grace Davidson
💍 1913/1826

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

26
36

St. Albans
St. Albans

3 days
3 days

Knox Church, Christchurch

13/1340

24 March 1913

Rev. R. Erwin

No	232
Date of Notice	24 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Levin Thompson	Sarah Grace Davidson
	💍 1913/1826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	26	36
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/1340
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin

233

24 March 1913

Herbert Cyril Dixoro
Annie Johnson

Herbert Cyril Dixon
Annie Johnson
💍 1913/1916

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

32
27

St. Albans
St. Albans

3 years
4 years

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

13/1431

24 March 1913

Rev. C.H. Gosset

No	233
Date of Notice	24 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Cyril Dixoro	Annie Johnson
BDM Match (95%)	Herbert Cyril Dixon	Annie Johnson
	💍 1913/1916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	13/1431
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.H. Gosset

234

25 March 1913

George Bradbury
Eva Olive Pointon

George Bradbury
Eva Olive Louisa Pointon
💍 1913/4833

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

25
23

Sumner
St. Albans

2 months
1 year

St. Paul's Church, Papanui

13/4410

25 March 1913

Rev. J.A. Julius

No	234
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bradbury	Eva Olive Pointon
BDM Match (85%)	George Bradbury	Eva Olive Louisa Pointon
	💍 1913/4833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Sumner	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 months	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	13/4410
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.A. Julius

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).