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 038

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1913

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

22 January 1913

Herbert Norman McLauchlan
Eva Mary Dean

Herbert Norman McLauchlan
Eva Mary Dean
💍 1913/1858

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

House of Mr. E.O. Mills, 16 Havelock St., Linwood

13/1371

Mary Maria Mills, mother

22 January 1913

Rev. T. McDonald

No	43
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Norman McLauchlan	Eva Mary Dean
	💍 1913/1858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. E.O. Mills, 16 Havelock St., Linwood
Folio	13/1371
Consent	Mary Maria Mills, mother
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald

22 January 1913

James Henry Hocking
Annie Pulley

James Henry Hocking
Annie Pulley
💍 1913/796

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic duties

47
48

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
5 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/200

22 January 1913

Registrar

No	44
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Hocking	Annie Pulley
	💍 1913/796
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	47	48
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/200
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

22 January 1913

Hugh McSwigan
Johannah Twomey

Hugh McSwigan
Johannah Twomey
💍 1913/1845

Bachelor
Spinster

French Polisher
Tailoress

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

13/1359

22 January 1913

Rev. T. W. Price

No	45
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McSwigan	Johannah Twomey
	💍 1913/1845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	French Polisher	Tailoress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	13/1359
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Price

22 January 1913

Harry Edward Humm
Rosemond Emma Stewart

Harry Edward Humm
Rosamund Emma Stewart
💍 1913/1968

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Dressmaker

25
26

Hornby
Hornby

20 years
12 years

St. Columba's Church, Hornby

13/1383

22 January 1913

Rev. J. R. Wilford

No	46
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Edward Humm	Rosemond Emma Stewart
BDM Match (95%)	Harry Edward Humm	Rosamund Emma Stewart
	💍 1913/1968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Hornby	Hornby
Length of Residence	20 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Columba's Church, Hornby
Folio	13/1383
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Wilford

23 January 1913

John Chapman
Rubena Gwendoline Curlett

John Chapman
Rubena Gwendoline Curlett
💍 1913/1871

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 years
Life

St. Mary's Church, Addington

13/1410

23 January 1913

Rev. W. S. Bean

No	47
Date of Notice	23 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Chapman	Rubena Gwendoline Curlett
	💍 1913/1871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	13/1410
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean

24 January 1913

Albert Walter Cooke
Emma Annie Scott

Albert Walter Cooke
Emma Annie Scott
💍 1913/327

Bachelor
Divorced

Labourer
Tailoress

32
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
3 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

13/201

24 January 1913

Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	24 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Walter Cooke	Emma Annie Scott
	💍 1913/327
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	13/201
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).