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 057

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

139

27 February 1913

George Thomas Williams
Lucy Smith

George Thomas Williams
Lucy Smith
💍 1913/1894

Bachelor
Spinster

Book

40
30

Tai Tapu
Opawa

8 years
10 years

St. Mark's Church, Opawa

13/1425

27 February 1913

Rev. H. Williams

No	139
Date of Notice	27 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Williams	Lucy Smith
	💍 1913/1894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Book
Age	40	30
Dwelling Place	Tai Tapu	Opawa
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Opawa
Folio	13/1425
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams

140

28 February 1913

Hubert Cunningham Hassall
Florence Kate Webster

Hubert Cunnington Hassall
Florence Kate Webster
💍 1913/1855

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Typiste

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
Life

Church of Christ, Christchurch

13/1357

28 February 1913

R. Gebbie

No	140
Date of Notice	28 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Cunningham Hassall	Florence Kate Webster
BDM Match (94%)	Hubert Cunnington Hassall	Florence Kate Webster
	💍 1913/1855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Typiste
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Christchurch
Folio	13/1357
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Gebbie

141

28 February 1913

Albert George Stanley
Florence Bowman

Albert George Stanley
Florence Bowman
💍 1913/1827

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

27
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
12 weeks

Knox Church, Christchurch

13/1341

28 February 1913

Rev. R. Erwin

No	141
Date of Notice	28 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Stanley	Florence Bowman
	💍 1913/1827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	12 weeks
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/1341
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin

142

1 March 1913

Edwin James Sheard
Lavenie Jane Smith

Edwin James Sheard
Lavenia Jane Smith
💍 1913/1883

Bachelor
Spinster

Leather Dresser
Dressmaker

27
19

New Brighton
Christchurch

5 years
10 years

House of M. G. C. B. Smith, 331 Armagh St.

13/1422

George Edward Cook Smith, father

1 March 1913

Rev. J. Tait

No	142
Date of Notice	1 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin James Sheard	Lavenie Jane Smith
BDM Match (97%)	Edwin James Sheard	Lavenia Jane Smith
	💍 1913/1883
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Leather Dresser	Dressmaker
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of M. G. C. B. Smith, 331 Armagh St.
Folio	13/1422
Consent	George Edward Cook Smith, father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tait

143

1 March 1913

Frank Cecil Farclough
Eva Scott

Frank Cecil Fairclough
Eva Scott
💍 1913/1958

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Surgeon

28
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
5 years

Methodist Church, St. Albans

13/1396

1 March 1913

Rev. A. E. Bellhouse

No	143
Date of Notice	1 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Cecil Farclough	Eva Scott
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Cecil Fairclough	Eva Scott
	💍 1913/1958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, St. Albans
Folio	13/1396
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Bellhouse

144

1 March 1913

Charles William Osborn
Jessie Beatrice Hill

Charles William Oborn
Jessie Beatrice Hill
💍 1913/1896

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
23 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

13/1435

1 March 1913

Rev. H. Purchas

No	144
Date of Notice	1 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Osborn	Jessie Beatrice Hill
BDM Match (98%)	Charles William Oborn	Jessie Beatrice Hill
	💍 1913/1896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/1435
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Purchas

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).