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 166

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

726

8 October 1913

Edwin Rowse
Evelyn May Hanham

Edwin Rowse
Evelyn May Hanham
💍 1913/8175

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

26
25

New Brighton
New Brighton

26 years
16 years

Church of England, New Brighton

13/7917

8 October 1913

Rev. H. H. Mathias

No	726
Date of Notice	8 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Rowse	Evelyn May Hanham
	💍 1913/8175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	26 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, New Brighton
Folio	13/7917
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Mathias

727

10 October 1913

George Leonard Bull
Constance Peal Genn

George Leonard Bull
Constance Pearl Genn
💍 1913/7885

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Dressmaker

27
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
4 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

13/7701

10 October 1913

Rev. W. W. Sedgwick

No	727
Date of Notice	10 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Leonard Bull	Constance Peal Genn
BDM Match (98%)	George Leonard Bull	Constance Pearl Genn
	💍 1913/7885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Dressmaker
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/7701
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Sedgwick

728

11 October 1913

Cecil John Beckett
Minnie Simmonds

Cecil John Beckett
Minnie Simmonds
💍 1913/6864

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Tailoress

30
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/6550

11 October 1913

Registrar

No	728
Date of Notice	11 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil John Beckett	Minnie Simmonds
	💍 1913/6864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Tailoress
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence		10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/6550
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

729

11 October 1913

Henry John Prattley
Lily Rowe

Henry John Prattley
Lily Rowe
💍 1913/8001

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
30

Aylesbury
Sydenham

3 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Corner, Brougham & Durham St., Sydenham

13/7768

11 October 1913

Rev. A. W. Scotter

No	729
Date of Notice	11 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Prattley	Lily Rowe
	💍 1913/8001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Aylesbury	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Corner, Brougham & Durham St., Sydenham
Folio	13/7768
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Scotter

730

13 October 1913

William Henry Hearn
Louisa Mary Milne

William Henry Hearn
Louisa Mary Milne
💍 1913/7901

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
34

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 days
Life

House of Mr. J. Milne, 7 Longfellow St., Sydenham

13/7693

13 October 1913

Rev. C. Murray

No	730
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hearn	Louisa Mary Milne
	💍 1913/7901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Milne, 7 Longfellow St., Sydenham
Folio	13/7693
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray

731

13 October 1913

Thomas Edgar Booke
Elsie Arrowsmith

Thomas Edgar Cooke
Elsie Arrowsmith
💍 1913/9128

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

13/8199

13 October 1913

Rev. O. Fitzgerald

No	731
Date of Notice	13 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edgar Booke	Elsie Arrowsmith
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Edgar Cooke	Elsie Arrowsmith
	💍 1913/9128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	13/8199
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald

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).