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 2049

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar W. W. 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

14 September 1914

Ernest Charles Scales
Daisy Mason

Ernest Charles Scales
Daisy Mason
💍 1914/3117

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant
Milliner

28
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 years
9 months

Church of England, Ashburton

14/6919

14 September 1914

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	57
Date of Notice	14 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Charles Scales	Daisy Mason
	💍 1914/3117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Milliner
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	14/6919
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

14 September 1914

George John Solway
Jessie Smith

George John Solway
Jessie Smith
💍 1914/2345

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
20

Ashburton
Riverside

27 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Wakanui

6052

Mary Wood Smith, Mother of minor

14 September 1914

Rev. W. C. Blair

No	58
Date of Notice	14 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Solway	Jessie Smith
	💍 1914/2345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Riverside
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wakanui
Folio	6052
Consent	Mary Wood Smith, Mother of minor
Date of Certificate	14 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair

19 September 1914

Ernest Edward Bell
Margaret Alma Armstrong

Ernest Edward Bell
Margaret Alma Armstrong
💍 1914/2322

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman
Domestic duties

23
21

Tinwald
Ashburton

23 years
21 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

6046

19 September 1914

Rev. George Miller

No	59
Date of Notice	19 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Bell	Margaret Alma Armstrong
	💍 1914/2322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	6046
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller

22 September 1914

Horace Leslie Callaway
Muriel Helen Kenna

Horace Leslie Callaway
Muriel Helen Kenna
💍 1914/3116

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

29
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
7 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

6918

22 September 1914

Rev. J. R. Burgin

No	60
Date of Notice	22 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Leslie Callaway	Muriel Helen Kenna
	💍 1914/3116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	6918
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Burgin

23 September 1914

Arthur Cecil Bowman
Hellen Brown

Arthur Cecil Bowman
Ellen Brown
💍 1914/2317

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

30
33

Auckland
Wakanui

3 days
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Wakanui

6042

23 September 1914

Rev. W. C. Blair

No	61
Date of Notice	23 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Cecil Bowman	Hellen Brown
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Cecil Bowman	Ellen Brown
	💍 1914/2317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Wakanui
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wakanui
Folio	6042
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair

26 September 1914

William Alexander Innis Brown
Eleanor Sampson

William Alexander Innis Brown
Eleanor Sampson
💍 1914/2334

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

31
21

Ashburton
Waterton

31 years
21 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

6051

26 September 1914

W. W. White, Registrar

No	62
Date of Notice	26 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Innis Brown	Eleanor Sampson
	💍 1914/2334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Waterton
Length of Residence	31 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	6051
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 September 1914
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).