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 113

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

449

2 June 1913

Alexander Swanson Ashton
Ethel May Stewart

Alexander Swanson Ashton
Ethel May Stewart
💍 1913/4184

Edward Harold Foot
Ethel May Stewart
💍 1913/1145

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

27
23

New Brighton
New Brighton

6 months
1 year

House of Mr. Stewart, New Brighton

13/3659

2 June 1913

Rev. A. H. Servin

No	449
Date of Notice	2 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Swanson Ashton	Ethel May Stewart
	💍 1913/4184
BDM Match (63%)	Edward Harold Foot	Ethel May Stewart
	💍 1913/1145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Stewart, New Brighton
Folio	13/3659
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Servin

450

4 June 1913

Richard Acton Davies
Gladys Ferguson

Richard Acton Davies
Gladys Ferguson
💍 1913/4132

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
1 month

St. Mary's Church, Halswell

13/3708

4 June 1913

Rev. W. S. Bean

No	450
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Acton Davies	Gladys Ferguson
	💍 1913/4132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Halswell
Folio	13/3708
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean

451

4 June 1913

Albert John Spain
Ellen Maria Rebecca Watts

Albert John Spain
Ellen Maris Rebecca Watts
💍 1913/4017

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

29
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

House of Mrs. Watts, 138 Fitzgerald Av., Christchurch

13/3568

4 June 1913

Rev. T. Tait

No	451
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Spain	Ellen Maria Rebecca Watts
BDM Match (98%)	Albert John Spain	Ellen Maris Rebecca Watts
	💍 1913/4017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Watts, 138 Fitzgerald Av., Christchurch
Folio	13/3568
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Tait

452

4 June 1913

Edward Martin Carr
Mary Holliday

Edward Martin Carr
Mary Halliday
💍 1913/2682

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
1 month

Registrars Office, Christchurch

13/2303

4 June 1913

Registrar

No	452
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Martin Carr	Mary Holliday
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Martin Carr	Mary Halliday
	💍 1913/2682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/2303
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

453

4 June 1913

James Hugh Millist
Edith Ives

James Heagh Millist
Edith Ives
💍 1913/4075

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
30

Woolston
Woolston

6 years
10 years

St. Peters Manse, Woolston

13/3624

4 June 1913

Rev. T. McDonald

No	453
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hugh Millist	Edith Ives
BDM Match (95%)	James Heagh Millist	Edith Ives
	💍 1913/4075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Manse, Woolston
Folio	13/3624
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald

454

4 June 1913

Alexander Jameson
Edith Bushby

Alexander Jameson
Edith Bushby
💍 1913/4098

Bachelor
Spinster

Organising Secretary
Stenographer

42
29

St. Albans
St. Albans

6 days
Just arrived from Australia

Residence of T. C. Field Esq., 12 Holly Rd, St. Albans

13/3647

4 June 1913

Rev. W. A. Sinclair

No	454
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Jameson	Edith Bushby
	💍 1913/4098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Organising Secretary	Stenographer
Age	42	29
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	6 days	Just arrived from Australia
Marriage Place	Residence of T. C. Field Esq., 12 Holly Rd, St. Albans
Folio	13/3647
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Sinclair

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).