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 055

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

127

24 February 1913

John Shepherd
Julia Ethel Reid

John Shepherd
Julia Ethel Reid
💍 1913/1993

Divorced (Nov 14 1904)
Divorced (February 22 1913)

Carter
Machinist

46
37

Christchurch
Christchurch

22 years
37 years

House of Mr. Smith, 10 Walton Street, Sydenham

13/1458

24 February 1913

Rev. C. H. Olds

No	127
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shepherd	Julia Ethel Reid
	💍 1913/1993
Condition	Divorced (Nov 14 1904)	Divorced (February 22 1913)
Profession	Carter	Machinist
Age	46	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	37 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Smith, 10 Walton Street, Sydenham
Folio	13/1458
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Olds

128

24 February 1913

Washington Irving Barney
Muriel Heatherbell Allan

Washington Irving Carney
Muriel Heatherbell Allan
💍 1913/1915

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Buyer

34
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
Life

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

13/1430

24 February 1913

Rev. C. H. Grout

No	128
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Washington Irving Barney	Muriel Heatherbell Allan
BDM Match (98%)	Washington Irving Carney	Muriel Heatherbell Allan
	💍 1913/1915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Buyer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	13/1430
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Grout

129

24 February 1913

William Jacob Heywood Shaw
Elsie Amelia Downing

William Jacob Heywood Shaw
Elsie Amelia Downing
💍 1913/1873

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Shop Assistant

24
20

Addington
Addington

6 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

13/1412

Eli Downing, father

24 February 1913

Rev. W. S. Bean

No	129
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jacob Heywood Shaw	Elsie Amelia Downing
	💍 1913/1873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Shop Assistant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	13/1412
Consent	Eli Downing, father
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean

130

24 February 1913

Neil Peter Johnson
Ada Beatrice Graham

Neil Peter Johnson
Ada Beatrice Graham
💍 1913/799

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
34

Sydenham
Sydenham

1 year
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/180

24 February 1913

Registrar

No	130
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Peter Johnson	Ada Beatrice Graham
	💍 1913/799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/180
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

131

25 February 1913

Robert Edward Mills
Nellie Woodham

Robert Edward Mills
Nellie Woodham
💍 1913/1908

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Laundress

25
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
4 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

13/1446

25 February 1913

Rev. H. Purchas

No	131
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edward Mills	Nellie Woodham
	💍 1913/1908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Laundress
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13/1446
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Purchas

132

25 February 1913

Thomas Hendry
Jennie Hulme

Thomas Hendoy
Jennie Hulme
💍 1913/1979

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
25

Lyttelton
Linwood

6 years
16 years

House of G. W. Hulme, Canal Reserve, Linwood

13/1468

25 February 1913

Rev. J. Sargenson

No	132
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hendry	Jennie Hulme
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Hendoy	Jennie Hulme
	💍 1913/1979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Linwood
Length of Residence	6 years	16 years
Marriage Place	House of G. W. Hulme, Canal Reserve, Linwood
Folio	13/1468
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Sargenson

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).