Intentions to Marry, 1914 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840456, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 2039

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1914 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

4 April 1914

Moncrieff Nairn Begg
Rose Follett

Moncrieff Nairn Begg
Rose Follett
💍 1914/2849

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

52
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

52 years
12 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton

6700

4 April 1914

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	12
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Moncrieff Nairn Begg	Rose Follett
	💍 1914/2849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	52	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	52 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	6700
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller

4 April 1914

Thomas Wakelin
Marion Amelia Boyce

Thomas Wakelin
Marion Amelia Boyce
💍 1914/6005

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
dressmaker

56
24

Newlands
Ashburton

56 years
5 years

Wills Street Methodist Church Ashburton

3240

4 April 1914

Rev. T. Woolloxall

No	13
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wakelin	Marion Amelia Boyce
	💍 1914/6005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	dressmaker
Age	56	24
Dwelling Place	Newlands	Ashburton
Length of Residence	56 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Wills Street Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	3240
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Woolloxall

4 April 1914

Frederick Beggs Wilinshurst
Agnes W. Gilp.

Frederick Biggs Wilmshurst
Agnes McGilp
💍 1914/6006

Widower
Widow

Painter
domestic duties

63
59

Ashburton
Ashburton

39 years
7 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3241

4 April 1914

W. W. White Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Beggs Wilinshurst	Agnes W. Gilp.
BDM Match (80%)	Frederick Biggs Wilmshurst	Agnes McGilp
	💍 1914/6006
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Painter	domestic duties
Age	63	59
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	39 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3241
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

22 April 1914

James Tait
Jessie Miller Dixon

James Tait
Jessie Miller Dixon
💍 1914/6007

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
dressmaker

54
22

Ashburton
Tinwald

54 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church Tinwald

3242

22 April 1914

Rev. J. C. Mill

No	15
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Tait	Jessie Miller Dixon
	💍 1914/6007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	dressmaker
Age	54	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	54 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tinwald
Folio	3242
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Mill

28 April 1914

Robert Brown Bell
Dorothy Alice Bradley

Robert Brown Bell
Dorothy Alice Bradley
💍 1914/6417

Bachelor
Spinster

Newspaper Manager
domestic duties

25
24

Ashburton
Dunedin

13 1/2 years
22 years

All Saints Church of England Dunedin

3879

28 April 1914

Dean Fitchett

No	16
Date of Notice	28 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brown Bell	Dorothy Alice Bradley
	💍 1914/6417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Newspaper Manager	domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 1/2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Dunedin
Folio	3879
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Dean Fitchett

30 April 1914

George Valentine Dimmock
Sarah McKay

George Valentine Dimmock
Sarah McKay
💍 1914/2848

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
domestic duties

20
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

1 9/12 years
23 years

The Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

6699

William Dimmock father of Minor

30 April 1914

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	17
Date of Notice	30 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Valentine Dimmock	Sarah McKay
	💍 1914/2848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	domestic duties
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 9/12 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	6699
Consent	William Dimmock father of Minor
Date of Certificate	30 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller

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).