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 132

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

546

11 July 1913

Albert Hector Bond
Ivy Lye

Albert Hector Bond
Ivy Lye
💍 1913/8948

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

26
26

Sydenham
Linwood

2 years
19 years

Church of Good Shepherd, Phillipstown

13/8304

11 July 1913

Rev. H. E. Ensor

No	546
Date of Notice	11 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Hector Bond	Ivy Lye
	💍 1913/8948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Linwood
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of Good Shepherd, Phillipstown
Folio	13/8304
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ensor

547

11 July 1913

Stanley Gordon Robinson
Gertrude Monica Forkin

Stanley Gordon Robinson
Gertrude Monica Forkin
💍 1913/5976

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer

25
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
1 week

House of Mr. Robinson, Guild St., Richmond

13/5560

11 July 1913

Rev. J. J. North

No	547
Date of Notice	11 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Gordon Robinson	Gertrude Monica Forkin
	💍 1913/5976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	1 week
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Robinson, Guild St., Richmond
Folio	13/5560
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North

548

12 July 1913

Francis John Mottram
Marie Brunton

Francis John Mottram
Marie Brunton
💍 1913/4991

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Dressmaker

23
25

Christchurch
Linwood

6.5 years
10 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/4643

12 July 1913

Registrar

No	548
Date of Notice	12 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Mottram	Marie Brunton
	💍 1913/4991
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Dressmaker
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	6.5 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/4643
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

549

12 July 1913

William Roberts
Julia Steel

William Roberts
Julia Steel
💍 1913/4992

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/4644

12 July 1913

Registrar

No	549
Date of Notice	12 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Roberts	Julia Steel
	💍 1913/4992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/4644
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

550

14 July 1913

James Murdoch
Jane Rowland Davies

James Murdoch
Jane Rowland Davies
💍 1913/5978

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

34
32

Lincoln
Lincoln

4 days
5 days

Presbyterian Church, Lincoln

13/5562

14 July 1913

Rev. S. E. Hill

No	550
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Murdoch	Jane Rowland Davies
	💍 1913/5978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Lincoln	Lincoln
Length of Residence	4 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lincoln
Folio	13/5562
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. E. Hill

551

14 July 1913

Charles Horace Belmer
Elsie Ellen Ward

Charles Horace Belmer
Elsie Ellen Ward
💍 1913/3511

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Machinist

27
24

Sydenham
Christchurch

13 years
15 months

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

13/5570

14 July 1913

Rev. T. Tait

No	551
Date of Notice	14 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Horace Belmer	Elsie Ellen Ward
	💍 1913/3511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Machinist
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 years	15 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/5570
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Tait

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).