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 167

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

732

13 October 1913

Alexander Duncan McIlraith
Elsie McIntyre

Alexander Duncan McIlraith
Elsie McIntyre
💍 1913/6865

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

72
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
1 week

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/6551

13 October 1913

Registrar

No	732
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Duncan McIlraith	Elsie McIntyre
	💍 1913/6865
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	72	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/6551
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

733

13 October 1913

William George McDowell
Elsie Charlotte Treadwell

William George McDowell
Elsie Charlotte Treadwell
💍 1913/8634

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Shop Assistant

22
20

Riccarton
Halswell

15 years
4 years

Baptist Church, Spreydon

8441

Henrietta Charlotte Treadwell, mother

13 October 1913

Rev. J. Laird

No	733
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George McDowell	Elsie Charlotte Treadwell
	💍 1913/8634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Shop Assistant
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Halswell
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Spreydon
Folio	8441
Consent	Henrietta Charlotte Treadwell, mother
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird

734

13 October 1913

Edgar David Brooker
Amelia Georgina Boag

Edgar David Brooker
Amelia Georgina Boag
💍 1913/6866

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
21

Sydenham
Sydenham

5 months
12 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/6552

13 October 1913

Registrar

No	734
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar David Brooker	Amelia Georgina Boag
	💍 1913/6866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/6552
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

735

13 October 1913

Stuart Allan Gordon Aitchison
Mabel Gladys Idiens

Stuart Allan Gordon Aitchison
Mabel Gladys Idiens
💍 1913/7880

Bachelor
Spinster

Post Office Clerk

26
21

St. Albans
St. Albans

17 years
19 years

St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch

7696

13 October 1913

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	735
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stuart Allan Gordon Aitchison	Mabel Gladys Idiens
	💍 1913/7880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Post Office Clerk
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	17 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch
Folio	7696
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

736

13 October 1913

Henry William Saundercock
Minnie Creagh

Henry William Saundercock
Minnie Creogh
💍 1913/9139

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

27
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

8800

13 October 1913

Rev. O. Fitzgerald

No	736
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Saundercock	Minnie Creagh
BDM Match (96%)	Henry William Saundercock	Minnie Creogh
	💍 1913/9139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	8800
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald

737

13 October 1913

William Mitchell Holt-Harris
Allice Kathleen Doris Ross

William Mitchell Holt-Harris
Allice Kathleen Doris Ross
💍 1913/7902

Bachelor
Widow

Theatre Traveller

21
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 weeks
5 weeks

St. David's Church, Sydenham

7694

13 October 1913

Rev. C. Murray

No	737
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mitchell Holt-Harris	Allice Kathleen Doris Ross
	💍 1913/7902
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Theatre Traveller
Age	21	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Sydenham
Folio	7694
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray

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).