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 2137

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

476

8 June 1914

Albert Stokes
Elsie Doris Churcher Rae

Albert Stokes
Elsie Doris Churcher Rae
💍 1914/9394

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

24
20

Christchurch
Linwood

20 years
12 years

House of Mr W. J. Rae, 7 Clothier St, Linwood

4488

Walter Joseph Rae, Father

8 June 1914

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	476
Date of Notice	8 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Stokes	Elsie Doris Churcher Rae
	💍 1914/9394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	20 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr W. J. Rae, 7 Clothier St, Linwood
Folio	4488
Consent	Walter Joseph Rae, Father
Date of Certificate	8 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

477

8 June 1914

Victor Ernest Dockery
Ellen Davidson

Victor Ernest Dockery
Ellen Davidson
💍 1914/6101

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

29
29

Riccarton
Sydenham

5 years
10 years

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

3663

8 June 1914

Rev. C. S. Mutter, Anglican

No	477
Date of Notice	8 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Ernest Dockery	Ellen Davidson
	💍 1914/6101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3663
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Mutter, Anglican

478

9 June 1914

Albert Martin Donohue
Maren Petronella Knudsen

Albert Martin Donohue
Maren Petronella Knudsen
💍 1914/9059

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Cashier

36
23

Papanui
Christchurch

5 years
6 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch

4105

9 June 1914

Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	478
Date of Notice	9 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Martin Donohue	Maren Petronella Knudsen
	💍 1914/9059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Cashier
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch
Folio	4105
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

479

9 June 1914

Joseph Saunders
Violet Mary Homes Haines

Joseph Saunders
Violet May Homes
💍 1914/9395

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
22

Papanui
Christchurch

1 year
22 years

House of Rev. J. Cocker, Durham St, Christchurch

4489

9 June 1914

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	479
Date of Notice	9 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Saunders	Violet Mary Homes Haines
BDM Match (83%)	Joseph Saunders	Violet May Homes
	💍 1914/9395
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Cocker, Durham St, Christchurch
Folio	4489
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

480

9 June 1914

Laurence Henry Prebble
Mildred Ann Bell

Laurence Henry Prebble
Mildred Ann Bell
💍 1914/6102

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
24

Christchurch
St. Albans

3 months
1 year

Methodist Church, St. Albans

3662

9 June 1914

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	480
Date of Notice	9 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Henry Prebble	Mildred Ann Bell
	💍 1914/6102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, St. Albans
Folio	3662
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

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).