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 2069

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1914

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

6 February 1914

Cecil Victor Woodfield
Edith Maud Harvey

Cecil Victor Woodfield
Edith Maud Harrey
💍 1914/7553

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

29
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
28 years

House of Mrs Harvey, 53 Bordesley Street, Christchurch

1640

6 February 1914

Rev. J. McDonald

No	85
Date of Notice	6 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Victor Woodfield	Edith Maud Harvey
BDM Match (97%)	Cecil Victor Woodfield	Edith Maud Harrey
	💍 1914/7553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Harvey, 53 Bordesley Street, Christchurch
Folio	1640
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McDonald

7 February 1914

Charles Robert Davidson
Eva Stella Abbott

Charles Robert Davidson
Eva Stella Abbott
💍 1914/8003

Bachelor
Spinster

Cattleman
Saleswoman

23
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
1 year

Methodist Church, Saint Albans

1518

7 February 1914

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	86
Date of Notice	7 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Davidson	Eva Stella Abbott
	💍 1914/8003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cattleman	Saleswoman
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Saint Albans
Folio	1518
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

7 February 1914

William Houston McLean
Violet Rosamond Ellen Lock

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Music Teacher

24
30

Sydenham
Sydenham

2 years
1 1/2 years

Saint Davids Church, Sydenham

Not. Fol 9 see attached

7 February 1914

Rev. C. Murray

No	87
Date of Notice	7 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Houston McLean	Violet Rosamond Ellen Lock
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Music Teacher
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Saint Davids Church, Sydenham
Folio	Not. Fol 9 see attached
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray

7 February 1914

Roydon Hillary Parker
Rose Elizabeth Dame

Roydon Hillary Parker
Rose Elizabeth Dawe
💍 1914/8002

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Maker
Dressmaker

28
28

Christchurch
Saint Albans

24 years
28 years

Saint John's Church, Christchurch

1517

7 February 1914

Rev. P. J. Cocks

No	88
Date of Notice	7 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roydon Hillary Parker	Rose Elizabeth Dame
BDM Match (97%)	Roydon Hillary Parker	Rose Elizabeth Dawe
	💍 1914/8002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Maker	Dressmaker
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Saint Albans
Length of Residence	24 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Saint John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1517
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks

9 February 1914

Leonard Atkinson
Evelyn Miller

Leonard Atkinson
Evelyn Miller
💍 1914/7586

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

29 years
4 days

Saint John's Church, Christchurch

1499

9 February 1914

Rev. P. J. Cocks

No	89
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Atkinson	Evelyn Miller
	💍 1914/7586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	29 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Saint John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1499
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks

9 February 1914

Frederick Ernest Dodge
Maud Henwood

Frederick Ernest Dodge
Maud Henwood
💍 1914/401

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

25
17

Riccarton
Saint Albans

5 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

There is no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent.

25 February 1914

Registrar

No	90
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ernest Dodge	Maud Henwood
	💍 1914/401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Saint Albans
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	92
Consent	There is no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent.
Date of Certificate	25 February 1914
Officiating Minister	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).