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 118

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

479

12 June 1913

Arthur Ernest Wright
Ethel Ratcliff

Arthur Ernest Wright
Ethel Ratcliff
💍 1913/2666

Bachelor
Spinster

Pork Butcher
Shop assistant

22
20

Wainoni
Wainoni

2 months
2 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/2311

Richd. Ratcliff, Father

12 June 1913

Registrar

No	479
Date of Notice	12 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Wright	Ethel Ratcliff
	💍 1913/2666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pork Butcher	Shop assistant
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wainoni	Wainoni
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/2311
Consent	Richd. Ratcliff, Father
Date of Certificate	12 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

480

12 June 1913

Samuel Charles Graham Alcorn
Eva Camellia Nixon

Samuel Charles Graham Alcorn
Eva Camellia Nixon
💍 1913/4019

Bachelor
Spinster

Sharebroker

32
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
6 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

13/3569

12 June 1913

Rev. T. Tait

No	480
Date of Notice	12 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Charles Graham Alcorn	Eva Camellia Nixon
	💍 1913/4019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sharebroker
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/3569
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Tait

481

13 June 1913

Charles Godfrey Turner
Marjorie Potter Townend

Charles Godfrey Turner
Marjorie Potter Townend
💍 1913/4745

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

25
24

Christchurch
Rangiora

Life
2 years

House of Mr. C. H. Ensor, White Rock Station, Rangiora

13/4371

13 June 1913

Rev. C. A. Fraser

No	481
Date of Notice	13 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Godfrey Turner	Marjorie Potter Townend
	💍 1913/4745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Rangiora
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. C. H. Ensor, White Rock Station, Rangiora
Folio	13/4371
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraser

482

16 June 1913

David Strachan
Myrtle Wilson

David Strachan
Myrtle Wilson
💍 1913/4215

Previously married

Salesman
Clerk

36
25

Christchurch
Opawa

3 days
4 days

St. Mark's Church, Opawa

13/3765

16 June 1913

Rev. H. Williams

No	482
Date of Notice	16 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Strachan	Myrtle Wilson
	💍 1913/4215
Condition	Previously married
Profession	Salesman	Clerk
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Opawa
Folio	13/3765
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams

483

16 June 1913

Harry Horace Masters
Rose Osborne

Harry Horace Masters
Rose Osborne
💍 1913/5030

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/4683

No person in N.Z. having authority to consent.

1 July 1913

Registrar

No	483
Date of Notice	16 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Horace Masters	Rose Osborne
	💍 1913/5030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/4683
Consent	No person in N.Z. having authority to consent.
Date of Certificate	1 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

484

16 June 1913

Lawrence Henry Lagan
Mary Ellen Coffey

Lawrence Henry Lagan
Mary Ellen Coffey
💍 1913/4067

Widower
Spinster

Tramway Motorman

28
27

Addington
Christchurch

4 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

13/3617

16 June 1913

Rev. M. O'Boyle

No	484
Date of Notice	16 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Henry Lagan	Mary Ellen Coffey
	💍 1913/4067
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Motorman
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Addington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	13/3617
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. O'Boyle

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).