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 109

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

425

27 May 1913

Leslie Merlin Molineaux
Eva Irene Reace

Leslie Merlin Molineaux
Eva Irene Reece
💍 1913/4015

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

32
24

Christchurch
St. Albans

13 years
16 years

St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans

13/3565

27 May 1913

Rev. P. B. Haggitt

No	425
Date of Notice	27 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Merlin Molineaux	Eva Irene Reace
BDM Match (97%)	Leslie Merlin Molineaux	Eva Irene Reece
	💍 1913/4015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	13 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans
Folio	13/3565
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt

426

27 May 1913

Albert Sidney Howard
Florence May Williams

Albert Sidney Howard
Florence May Williams
💍 1913/492

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26
25

Opawa
St. Albans

6 months
6 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/2297

27 May 1913

Registrar

No	426
Date of Notice	27 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Sidney Howard	Florence May Williams
	💍 1913/492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Opawa	St. Albans
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/2297
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

427

27 May 1913

Humphrey Francis Courtney
Elizabeth Cant

Humphrey Francis Courtney
Elizabeth Cant
💍 1913/4072

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver, N.Z.R.

28
23

Christchurch
Spreydon

5 days
23 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

13/3621

27 May 1913

Rev. W. S. Bean

No	427
Date of Notice	27 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humphrey Francis Courtney	Elizabeth Cant
	💍 1913/4072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver, N.Z.R.
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	13/3621
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean

428

28 May 1913

David Ponsonby
Anne Egan

David Ponsonby
Anne Egan
💍 1913/4062

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
27

Christchurch
Kirwee

3 days
3 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

13/3612

28 May 1913

Rev. P. Fanning

No	428
Date of Notice	28 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ponsonby	Anne Egan
	💍 1913/4062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Kirwee
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	13/3612
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fanning

429

28 May 1913

Lachlan James McInnes
Frances Baile Taylor

Lachlan John McInnes
Frances Baile Taylor
💍 1913/493

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

37
35

Halkett
Halkett

6 months
7 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/2298

28 May 1913

Registrar

No	429
Date of Notice	28 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lachlan James McInnes	Frances Baile Taylor
BDM Match (91%)	Lachlan John McInnes	Frances Baile Taylor
	💍 1913/493
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	37	35
Dwelling Place	Halkett	Halkett
Length of Residence	6 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/2298
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

430

28 May 1913

Alfred Bampton
Jane Cavanagh

Alfred Bampton
Jane Cavanagh
💍 1913/494

Bachelor
Widow

Shearer
Cook

43
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/2299

28 May 1913

Registrar

No	430
Date of Notice	28 May 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Bampton	Jane Cavanagh
	💍 1913/494
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shearer	Cook
Age	43	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/2299
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).