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 123

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

503

23 June 1913

Charles Henry Copplestone
Elizabeth Annie Williams

Charles Henry Copplestone
Elizabeth Annie Williams
💍 1913/4039

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

26
21

Sydenham
Sydenham

20 years
3 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

13/3589

23 June 1913

Rev. P. J. Cocks

No	503
Date of Notice	23 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Copplestone	Elizabeth Annie Williams
	💍 1913/4039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	13/3589
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks

504

24 June 1913

Louis Marquet
Victoria Helen Fuchs

Louis Marguet
Victoria Helen Tucks
💍 1913/4074

Widower
Widow

Skinner

49
51

Woolston
Woolston

Life
9 years

House of W. C. North, 32 Richardson St., Woolston

13/3623

24 June 1913

Rev. T. McDonald

No	504
Date of Notice	24 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Marquet	Victoria Helen Fuchs
BDM Match (91%)	Louis Marguet	Victoria Helen Tucks
	💍 1913/4074
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Skinner
Age	49	51
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	Life	9 years
Marriage Place	House of W. C. North, 32 Richardson St., Woolston
Folio	13/3623
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald

505

24 June 1913

Alexander Gray
Martha Marguerite Donovan-Hillgrove

Alexander Gray
Martha Margurite Donovan Hillgrove
💍 1913/4095

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger's assistant

22
22

Sydenham
Christchurch

14 years
6 years

St. Peter's Manse, Ferry Rd., Linwood

13/3627

24 June 1913

Rev. T. McDonald

No	505
Date of Notice	24 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Gray	Martha Marguerite Donovan-Hillgrove
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Gray	Martha Margurite Donovan Hillgrove
	💍 1913/4095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger's assistant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Manse, Ferry Rd., Linwood
Folio	13/3627
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald

506

24 June 1913

Charles Dick Bell
Ann McIntosh Lusk

Charles Dick Bell
Ann McIntosh Lusk
💍 1913/3534

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

24
28

Sydenham
Sydenham

11 months
11 months

St. Peter's Church, Woolston

13/5577

24 June 1913

Rev. T. McDonald

No	506
Date of Notice	24 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Dick Bell	Ann McIntosh Lusk
	💍 1913/3534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	11 months	11 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Woolston
Folio	13/5577
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald

507

24 June 1913

Maurice James Gresson
Lydia Mary Gould

Maurice James Gresson
Lydia Mary Gould
💍 1913/4134

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

28
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

28 years
20 years

St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton

13/3684

24 June 1913

Rev. T. A. Hamilton

No	507
Date of Notice	24 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice James Gresson	Lydia Mary Gould
	💍 1913/4134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	28 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	13/3684
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Hamilton

508

25 June 1913

Henry Lee
Lucy Wright Allard

Henry Lee
Lucy Wright Allen
💍 1913/5987

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationmaster

27
25

Styx
Christchurch

7 years
Life

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

13/5547

25 June 1913

Rev. W. W. Sedgwick

No	508
Date of Notice	25 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lee	Lucy Wright Allard
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Lee	Lucy Wright Allen
	💍 1913/5987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationmaster
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Styx	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/5547
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Sedgwick

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).