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 2087

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

193

18 March 1914

Thomas Henry Munro
Alice Mary Swift

Thomas Henry Munro
Alice Mary Swift
💍 1914/8081

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Milliner

27
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

11 months
11 months

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

1620

18 March 1914

Rev. F. N. Taylor

No	193
Date of Notice	18 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Munro	Alice Mary Swift
	💍 1914/8081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Milliner
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 months	11 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1620
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor

194

19 March 1914

Henry Leigh
Vera Frances Bennington

Henry Leigh
Vera Frances Bennington
💍 1914/8085

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

28
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
7 years

House of Mrs Hunt, 121 Fitzgerald St, Christchurch

1624

John Bennington, father

19 March 1914

Rev. B. Neale

No	194
Date of Notice	19 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Leigh	Vera Frances Bennington
	💍 1914/8085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Hunt, 121 Fitzgerald St, Christchurch
Folio	1624
Consent	John Bennington, father
Date of Certificate	19 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Neale

195

19 March 1914

Henry Alder Common
Chrissie Frances Milstead

Henry Alder Common
Chrissie Frances Milstead
💍 1914/9398

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

33 years
24 years

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
7 months

Methodist Mission Church, Durham St, Christchurch

4492

19 March 1914

Rev. J. Cocker

No	195
Date of Notice	19 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alder Common	Chrissie Frances Milstead
	💍 1914/9398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	33 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	7 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Mission Church, Durham St, Christchurch
Folio	4492
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker

196

20 March 1914

Benjamin John Ager
Grace Wanda Martin

Benjamin John Ager
Grace Wanda Martin
💍 1914/5932

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

36
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
17 years

St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton

3418

20 March 1914

Rev. J. Hamilton

No	196
Date of Notice	20 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin John Ager	Grace Wanda Martin
	💍 1914/5932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	3418
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hamilton

197

20 March 1914

Harold William Carr-Rollitt
Ruth Ann Beaumont Thomson

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
1 month

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

Not solemnized (see attached)

20 March 1914

Registrar

No	197
Date of Notice	20 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold William Carr-Rollitt	Ruth Ann Beaumont Thomson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	Not solemnized (see attached)
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

198

20 March 1914

Charles Henry Hayes
Edith Catherine Ormandy

Charles Henry Hayes
Edith Catherine Ormandy
💍 1914/8083

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
23

Spreydon
Papanui

4 years
3 years

St. David's Church, Sydenham

1622

20 March 1914

Rev. C. Murray

No	198
Date of Notice	20 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Hayes	Edith Catherine Ormandy
	💍 1914/8083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Papanui
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Sydenham
Folio	1622
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray

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).