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 022

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar 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

744

19 July 1913

Herbert White
Martha Annie Stokes

Herbert White
Martha Annie Stokes
💍 1913/6813

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

24
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

18 months
30 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

13/6251

19 July 1913

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	744
Date of Notice	19 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert White	Martha Annie Stokes
	💍 1913/6813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	18 months	30 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	13/6251
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

745

19 July 1913

Edgar Harvey Gibson
Amelia Ann Wood

Edgar Harvey Gibson
Amelia Ann Cox
💍 1913/6096

Bachelor
Widow

Station Manager
domestic duties

40
42

Wairoa, Hawke Bay
Ashburton

3 days
1 month

At the dwelling of George Helings, Allenton

13/5680

19 July 1913

Rev. W. L. Elliott

No	745
Date of Notice	19 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Harvey Gibson	Amelia Ann Wood
BDM Match (90%)	Edgar Harvey Gibson	Amelia Ann Cox
	💍 1913/6096
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Station Manager	domestic duties
Age	40	42
Dwelling Place	Wairoa, Hawke Bay	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of George Helings, Allenton
Folio	13/5680
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. L. Elliott

746

4 August 1913

Arthur Tudor Tomlinson
Mary Jane MacKay

Arthur Tudor Tomlinson
Mary Jane MacKay
💍 1913/6095

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
domestic duties

22
24

Gisborne
Willowby

8 days
24 years

At the dwelling of Mary Jane MacKay, Willowby

13/5679

4 August 1913

Rev. J. C. Neill

No	746
Date of Notice	4 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Tudor Tomlinson	Mary Jane MacKay
	💍 1913/6095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Willowby
Length of Residence	8 days	24 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Mary Jane MacKay, Willowby
Folio	13/5679
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Neill

747

6 August 1913

Henry Robert Wakefield
Violet Maggie Digby

Henry Robert Wakefield
Violet Maggie Digby
💍 1913/6115

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
domestic duties

23
21

Timaru
Winchemore

3 days
21 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

13/5675

6 August 1913

Rev. J. B. Inglis

No	747
Date of Notice	6 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robert Wakefield	Violet Maggie Digby
	💍 1913/6115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Winchemore
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	13/5675
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Inglis

748

11 August 1913

Walter Charles Dorrell
Fanny Wallace

Walter Charles Powell
Fanny Wallace
💍 1913/5174

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

59
52

Ashburton
Ashburton

15 years
18 months

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

13/4806

11 August 1913

H. W. White, Registrar

No	748
Date of Notice	11 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Charles Dorrell	Fanny Wallace
BDM Match (93%)	Walter Charles Powell	Fanny Wallace
	💍 1913/5174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	59	52
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	15 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	13/4806
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1913
Officiating Minister	H. 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).