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 898

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar John Gaunson Petrie

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

221

29 December 1913

Richard George Cockroft
Jeanette Mabel Child

Richard George Firth Cockroft
Henrietta Mabel Childs
💍 1913/7042

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
22

One Master Street, Invercargill
One Master Street, Invercargill

28 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

13/6773

29 December 1913

Rev. W. Burke

No	221
Date of Notice	29 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard George Cockroft	Jeanette Mabel Child
BDM Match (76%)	Richard George Firth Cockroft	Henrietta Mabel Childs
	💍 1913/7042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	One Master Street, Invercargill	One Master Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	13/6773
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Burke

222

30 December 1913

John James Barr
Agnes Mary Anderson

John James Barr
Agnes Mary Anderson
💍 1914/8186

Bachelor
Spinster

Polisher
Tailoress

26
30

Tyne Street, Invercargill
Compton Street, Invercargill

20 years
18 months

Church of Christ, Livist Street, Invercargill

1914/1779

30 December 1913

Rev. Lawrence

No	222
Date of Notice	30 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Barr	Agnes Mary Anderson
	💍 1914/8186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Polisher	Tailoress
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Tyne Street, Invercargill	Compton Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Livist Street, Invercargill
Folio	1914/1779
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lawrence

223

31 December 1913

James Walter Burke
Margaret Laura Gallacher

James Walker
Margaret Laurie Gallacher
💍 1913/9065

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
House duties

35
34

Esk Street, Invercargill
Annandale, Ullinwood, Melbourne 28/12/19

3 days
28 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

13/8624

31 December 1913

Rev. W. Burke

No	223
Date of Notice	31 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walter Burke	Margaret Laura Gallacher
BDM Match (77%)	James Walker	Margaret Laurie Gallacher
	💍 1913/9065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	House duties
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Esk Street, Invercargill	Annandale, Ullinwood, Melbourne 28/12/19
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	13/8624
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Burke

224

31 December 1913

Richard George Cockroft
Jeanette Mabel Child

Richard George Firth Cockroft
Henrietta Mabel Childs
💍 1913/7042

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
22

One Master Street, Invercargill
One Master Street, Invercargill

28 years
22 years

Office of Registrar, Invercargill

13/6773

31 December 1913

Registrar, Invercargill

No	224
Date of Notice	31 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard George Cockroft	Jeanette Mabel Child
BDM Match (76%)	Richard George Firth Cockroft	Henrietta Mabel Childs
	💍 1913/7042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	One Master Street, Invercargill	One Master Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	13/6773
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Invercargill

225

31 December 1913

John Bryan Turnbull
Mary McLean

John Brydon Turnbull
Mary McLean
💍 1914/8188

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Boot Machinist

35
27

One Master Street, Invercargill
Biggar Street, Invercargill

3 months
6 days

Presbyterian Church, Thomas Street, Invercargill

1914/1780

31 December 1913

Rev. G. S. Grant

No	225
Date of Notice	31 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bryan Turnbull	Mary McLean
BDM Match (95%)	John Brydon Turnbull	Mary McLean
	💍 1914/8188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Boot Machinist
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	One Master Street, Invercargill	Biggar Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	6 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Thomas Street, Invercargill
Folio	1914/1780
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Grant

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).