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 2077

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

133

27 February 1914

Arthur James Philp
Amy May Smart

Arthur James Philp
Amy May Smart
💍 1914/7529

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

21
19

Christchurch
Sydenham

1/2 year
19 years

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

1591

William Smart, Father

27 February 1914

Rev. C. G. Mutter

No	133
Date of Notice	27 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Philp	Amy May Smart
	💍 1914/7529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1/2 year	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1591
Consent	William Smart, Father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. G. Mutter

134

28 February 1914

Michael Joseph Gallaher
Mabel Anderson

Michael Joseph Gallaher
Mabel Anderson
💍 1914/8338

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

30
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
Life

House of Mr. J. Anderson, 107 Victoria St., Christchurch

1930

28 February 1914

Rev. C. E. Ward

No	134
Date of Notice	28 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Joseph Gallaher	Mabel Anderson
	💍 1914/8338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Anderson, 107 Victoria St., Christchurch
Folio	1930
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward

135

28 February 1914

Bertie Dench
Emma Selina Lilley

Bertie Dench
Emma Selina Lilley
💍 1914/439

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

106

28 February 1914

Registrar

No	135
Date of Notice	28 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Dench	Emma Selina Lilley
	💍 1914/439
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	106
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

136

2 March 1914

Thomas Edwin Hadley
Jessie Jemima Leslie

Thomas Edwin Hadley
Jessie Jemima Leslie
💍 1914/7536

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

35
27

St. Albans
Richmond

6 1/2 years
8 months

Knox Church, Christchurch

1597

2 March 1914

Rev. R. Erwin

No	136
Date of Notice	2 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edwin Hadley	Jessie Jemima Leslie
	💍 1914/7536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Richmond
Length of Residence	6 1/2 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Christchurch
Folio	1597
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin

137

2 March 1914

Harry Francis Marson
Janet Hislop Rolton

Harry Francis Marson
Janet Hislop Rolton
💍 1914/548

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarryman

27
23

Halswell
St. Albans

17 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

239

2 March 1914

Registrar

No	137
Date of Notice	2 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Francis Marson	Janet Hislop Rolton
	💍 1914/548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Halswell	St. Albans
Length of Residence	17 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	239
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

138

2 March 1914

James Stanley Roscoe
Jessie Thorn

James Stanley Roscoe
Jessie Thorn
💍 1914/8318

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

24
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
Life

House of Mr. John Thorn, 182 Antigua St., Christchurch

1926

2 March 1914

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	138
Date of Notice	2 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stanley Roscoe	Jessie Thorn
	💍 1914/8318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	House of Mr. John Thorn, 182 Antigua St., Christchurch
Folio	1926
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

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).