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 030

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar J. William Winsbury White

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

783

19 December 1913

Thomas Alfred Ernest Joll
Naomi Bradshaw

Thomas Alfred Ernest Joll
Naomi Bradshaw
💍 1913/8113

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
domestic duties

25
26

Ashburton
Tinwald

10 months
26 years

Church of Christ, Ashburton

13/7904

19 December 1913

W. J. M. Simes

No	783
Date of Notice	19 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Ernest Joll	Naomi Bradshaw
	💍 1913/8113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	domestic duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	10 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Ashburton
Folio	13/7904
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1913
Officiating Minister	W. J. M. Simes

784

22 December 1913

Walter James Clucas
Olive Keely

Walter James Clucas
Olive Kelly
💍 1913/9117

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
22

Maunga-Raramea
Trevorton

3 days
22 years

Methodist Church, Wills Street, Ashburton

13/8795

22 December 1913

Rev. J. Woollfall

No	784
Date of Notice	22 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Clucas	Olive Keely
BDM Match (95%)	Walter James Clucas	Olive Kelly
	💍 1913/9117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Maunga-Raramea	Trevorton
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Wills Street, Ashburton
Folio	13/8795
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Woollfall

785

23 December 1913

Norman Stephens
Ellen Raffey

Norman Stephens
Ellen Laffey
💍 1913/9060

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
domestic duties

19
21

Ashburton
Tinwald

19 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton

13/8637

Selina Stephens, mother of minor

23 December 1913

Dean O'Connell

No	785
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Stephens	Ellen Raffey
BDM Match (96%)	Norman Stephens	Ellen Laffey
	💍 1913/9060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	domestic duties
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton
Folio	13/8637
Consent	Selina Stephens, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Connell

786

23 December 1913

William Wharew
Jean Isabella Clelland

William McLaren
Jean Isabella Clelland
💍 1913/8111

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
domestic duties

36
30

Omihi
Ashburton

4 years
4 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

13/7902

John Clelland, father of minor

23 December 1913

Rev. James Wilson

No	786
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wharew	Jean Isabella Clelland
BDM Match (87%)	William McLaren	Jean Isabella Clelland
	💍 1913/8111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	domestic duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Omihi	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	13/7902
Consent	John Clelland, father of minor
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Wilson

787

27 December 1913

Henry Knok
Phillipa Reddecliffe

Henry Knox
Phillippa Reddecliffe
💍 1914/8292

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
domestic duties

28
26

Netherby
Hampstead

6 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

13/1884

27 December 1913

W. W. White, Registrar

No	787
Date of Notice	27 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Knok	Phillipa Reddecliffe
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Knox	Phillippa Reddecliffe
	💍 1914/8292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Netherby	Hampstead
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	13/1884
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1913
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, 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).