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 2063

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Frank Evans

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

21 January 1914

Edison Rufus Hardaker
Josephine Morley

Edison Rufus Hardaker
Josephine Marley
💍 1914/417

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Hand

19
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

Eri Hardaker, Father

21 January 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	49
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edison Rufus Hardaker	Josephine Morley
BDM Match (97%)	Edison Rufus Hardaker	Josephine Marley
	💍 1914/417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Hand
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	84
Consent	Eri Hardaker, Father
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

21 January 1914

Arthur Petherbridge
Ellen Douthworth

Arthur Petherbridge
Ellen Southworth
💍 1914/7575

Widower April 9, 1913
Widow December 18, 1910

Sheepfarmer

58
48

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
10 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

1488

21 January 1914

Rev. H. W. Monaghan

No	50
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Petherbridge	Ellen Douthworth
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Petherbridge	Ellen Southworth
	💍 1914/7575
Condition	Widower April 9, 1913	Widow December 18, 1910
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	58	48
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1488
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Monaghan

21 January 1914

Alexander Robert Robertson
Marion Ferguson

Alexander Robert Robertson
Marion Ferguson
💍 1914/394

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

26
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
3 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

Arabella Ferguson, Mother

21 January 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	51
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robert Robertson	Marion Ferguson
	💍 1914/394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	85
Consent	Arabella Ferguson, Mother
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

21 January 1914

John George Henry
Evelyn Alice Smith

John George Henry
Evelyn Alice Smith
💍 1914/8016

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger's assistant
Photographer

36
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 1/2 years
6 months

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

1507

21 January 1914

Rev. H. W. Monaghan

No	52
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Henry	Evelyn Alice Smith
	💍 1914/8016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger's assistant	Photographer
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1507
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Monaghan

21 January 1914

Stanley George Mallard
Evelyn Maude Matthews

Stanley George Mallard
Evelyn Maude Matthews
💍 1914/7579

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle & motor Mechanic

19
18

Sydenham
Sydenham

19 years
8 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

1493

John Mallard, Father & Frank Matthews, Father

21 January 1914

Rev. H. S. Leach

No	53
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley George Mallard	Evelyn Maude Matthews
	💍 1914/7579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle & motor Mechanic
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	19 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	1493
Consent	John Mallard, Father & Frank Matthews, Father
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach

22 January 1914

Harold Percy Burton
Moyra Edith Lee

Harold Percy Burton
Myra Edith Lee
💍 1914/7578

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

28
28

Christchurch
Sumner

3 days
12 years

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Sumner

1492

22 January 1914

Rev. W. Lee

No	54
Date of Notice	22 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Percy Burton	Moyra Edith Lee
BDM Match (97%)	Harold Percy Burton	Myra Edith Lee
	💍 1914/7578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sumner
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church, Sumner
Folio	1492
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Lee

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).