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 2201

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 December 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

782

14 October 1914

George Gordon Dennell
Clara Margaret May Wandle

George Gordon Terrell
Clara Margaret May Wandle Mead
💍 1914/9470

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Housemaid

24
22

Linwood
Linwood

23 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7098

14 October 1914

Registrar

No	782
Date of Notice	14 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gordon Dennell	Clara Margaret May Wandle
BDM Match (85%)	George Gordon Terrell	Clara Margaret May Wandle Mead
	💍 1914/9470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Housemaid
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	23 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7098
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

783

14 October 1914

Alfred Ernest Cooper
Hannah Myrtle Reese

Alfred Ernest Cooper
Hannah Myrtle Reese
💍 1914/4123

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant

25
21

St. Albans
Southbridge

14 months
3 years

House of Mr J. Reese, Southbridge

7908

14 October 1914

Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

No	783
Date of Notice	14 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Cooper	Hannah Myrtle Reese
	💍 1914/4123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Southbridge
Length of Residence	14 months	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr J. Reese, Southbridge
Folio	7908
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

784

15 October 1914

William Thomas Leal
Clara Emma Power

William Thomas Cleal
Grace Emma Power
💍 1914/4928

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

34
26

Burnham
Burnham

5 years
12 years

St. Michaels Church, Christchurch

8829

15 October 1914

Rev. C. G. Mutter, Anglican

No	784
Date of Notice	15 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Leal	Clara Emma Power
BDM Match (83%)	William Thomas Cleal	Grace Emma Power
	💍 1914/4928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Burnham	Burnham
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church, Christchurch
Folio	8829
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. G. Mutter, Anglican

785

15 October 1914

Edward Acton Gibbon Thompson
Amelia Jane Denison

Edward Acton Gibbon Thompson
Amelia Jane Denison
💍 1914/4921

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
20

Templeton
Broadfield

33 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Lincoln

8844

Andrew Denison, Father

15 October 1914

Rev. J. S. Hill, Presbyterian

No	785
Date of Notice	15 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Acton Gibbon Thompson	Amelia Jane Denison
	💍 1914/4921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Templeton	Broadfield
Length of Residence	33 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lincoln
Folio	8844
Consent	Andrew Denison, Father
Date of Certificate	15 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Hill, Presbyterian

786

15 October 1914

William Atherton Wilson
Lucy Brabazon

William Atherton Wilson
Lucy Brabazon
💍 1914/4974

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

29
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

29 years
few weeks

St. Michaels Church, Christchurch

8849

15 October 1914

Rev. C. G. Mutter, Anglican

No	786
Date of Notice	15 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Atherton Wilson	Lucy Brabazon
	💍 1914/4974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	29 years	few weeks
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church, Christchurch
Folio	8849
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. G. Mutter, Anglican

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).