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 2221

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 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

882

25 November 1914

Albert James Cross
Ada Margaret Hills

Albert James Cross
Ada Margaret Hills
💍 1914/4999

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Tailoress

26
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 years
2 years

House of Rev. H. A. Job, 45 Matson's Road, Linwood

8874

25 November 1914

Rev. H. A. Job, Congregationalist

No	882
Date of Notice	25 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Cross	Ada Margaret Hills
	💍 1914/4999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Tailoress
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. H. A. Job, 45 Matson's Road, Linwood
Folio	8874
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Job, Congregationalist

883

26 November 1914

Alexander Murry Taylor
Emma Rodena Henderson

Alexander Murry Taylor
Emma Rodena Henderson
💍 1914/4711

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

29
18

Christchurch
Belfast

4 years
18 years

House of Mrs A. M. Taylor, 14 Suffolk St., Linwood

8709

William Roderick Henderson, Father

26 November 1914

Mr W. W. Collins, Rationalist

No	883
Date of Notice	26 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Murry Taylor	Emma Rodena Henderson
	💍 1914/4711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Belfast
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs A. M. Taylor, 14 Suffolk St., Linwood
Folio	8709
Consent	William Roderick Henderson, Father
Date of Certificate	26 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Mr W. W. Collins, Rationalist

884

26 November 1914

Joseph Ewart Firth
Gertrude Scorah

Joseph Ewan Firth
Gertrude Scorah
💍 1914/4748

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

29
29

Woolston
Woolston

10 months
3 months

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

8775

26 November 1914

Rev. O. Fitz Gerald, Anglican

No	884
Date of Notice	26 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ewart Firth	Gertrude Scorah
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Ewan Firth	Gertrude Scorah
	💍 1914/4748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	10 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	8775
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitz Gerald, Anglican

885

27 November 1914

Ernest Bold Jones
Hilda Bedford

Ernest Bold Jones
Hilda Bedford
💍 1914/4735

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer

21
21

Spreydon
Spreydon

2 years
1 week

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

8786

27 November 1914

Rev. C. G. Mutter, Anglican

No	885
Date of Notice	27 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Bold Jones	Hilda Bedford
	💍 1914/4735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8786
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. G. Mutter, Anglican

886

27 November 1914

Clyde Welsford
Elsie May Diepenheim

Clyde Welsford
Elsie May Diepenheim
💍 1914/4712

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Waitress

27
22

Christchurch
Linwood

3 years
5 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

8711

27 November 1914

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	886
Date of Notice	27 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clyde Welsford	Elsie May Diepenheim
	💍 1914/4712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Waitress
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8711
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor, 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).