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 2111

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar G. 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

332

21 April 1914

Arthur Mason Branch
Mabel Wolfe

Arthur Mason Branch
Mabel Wolfe
💍 1914/6043

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Dressmaker

28
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
1 1/2 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

3581

21 April 1914

Rev. F. N. Taylor

No	332
Date of Notice	21 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Mason Branch	Mabel Wolfe
	💍 1914/6043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Dressmaker
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3581
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor

333

21 April 1914

Ralph Hamilton
Alice Adelaide Taggart

Ralph Hamilton
Alice Adelaide Loggart
💍 1914/6044

Divorced decree absolute 4 December 1913
Widow 2 May 1910

Storeman

35
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

11 years
Life

St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch

3582

21 April 1914

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	333
Date of Notice	21 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Hamilton	Alice Adelaide Taggart
BDM Match (95%)	Ralph Hamilton	Alice Adelaide Loggart
	💍 1914/6044
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 4 December 1913	Widow 2 May 1910
Profession	Storeman
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch
Folio	3582
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

334

22 April 1914

Ernest Wheeler
Elizabeth Mitchell

Ernest Wheeler
Elizabeth Mitchell
💍 1914/6041

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Milliner

27
23

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 days
5 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

3579

22 April 1914

Rev. H. S. Leach

No	334
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Wheeler	Elizabeth Mitchell
	💍 1914/6041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Milliner
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	3579
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach

335

22 April 1914

William Stevenson Anderson
Catherine Stratt McArthur

William Stevenson Anderson
Catherine Strath McArthur
💍 1914/888

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

32
32

Christchurch
Papanui

2 years
3 days

House of Mr. J. McArthur, Papanui

4504

22 April 1914

Rev. T. McDonald

No	335
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stevenson Anderson	Catherine Stratt McArthur
BDM Match (98%)	William Stevenson Anderson	Catherine Strath McArthur
	💍 1914/888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. McArthur, Papanui
Folio	4504
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald

336

22 April 1914

John Thomas (Wason) Wason
Mary Ada McLaughlin

John Thomas Wason
Mary Ada McLaughlin
💍 1914/6066

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

30
21

Spreydon
Sydenham

5 days
5 days

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Christchurch

3603

22 April 1914

Rev. R. Erwin

No	336
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas (Wason) Wason	Mary Ada McLaughlin
BDM Match (84%)	John Thomas Wason	Mary Ada McLaughlin
	💍 1914/6066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Christchurch
Folio	3603
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin

337

24 April 1914

Arthur Thomas Henley
Mary Agnes Foster

Arthur Thomas Henley
Mary Agnes Foster
💍 1914/6370

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Machinist

26
23

Linwood
Sydenham

5 years
19 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Presbytery, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch

3932

24 April 1914

Rev. T. W. Price

No	337
Date of Notice	24 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Henley	Mary Agnes Foster
	💍 1914/6370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Machinist
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Presbytery, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch
Folio	3932
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Price

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).