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 2225

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

902

1 December 1914

Ernest Albert Whetton
Constance Edith Louanna Willcox

Ernest Albert Wharton
Constance Edith Louanna Willcox
💍 1914/4861

Widower 14 November 1905
Divorced Decree absolute 16 November 1913

Commercial Traveller
Dressmaker

35
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
33 years

Trinity Congregational Church Christchurch

8735

1 December 1914

Rev. H. Johnson, Congregationalist

No	902
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Whetton	Constance Edith Louanna Willcox
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Albert Wharton	Constance Edith Louanna Willcox
	💍 1914/4861
Condition	Widower 14 November 1905	Divorced Decree absolute 16 November 1913
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Dressmaker
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church Christchurch
Folio	8735
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Johnson, Congregationalist

903

1 December 1914

Charles Burney
Pearl Florence Maud Myers

Charles Burney
Pearl Florence Maud Myers
💍 1914/5346

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

23
20

Sydenham
Christchurch

3 years
20 years

Anglican Church Marshland

9274

John Scott Myers, father

1 December 1914

Rev. J. M. Curnow, Anglican

No	903
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Burney	Pearl Florence Maud Myers
	💍 1914/5346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Marshland
Folio	9274
Consent	John Scott Myers, father
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Curnow, Anglican

904

1 December 1914

Thomas Walker Hoffman Armstrong
Annie Elizabeth Robson

Thomas Walter Altman Armstrong
Annie Elizabeth Robson
💍 1914/4706

Bachelor
Spinster

Electro-plater

28
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
10 years

Methodist Church East Belt Christchurch

8704

1 December 1914

Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Methodist

No	904
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walker Hoffman Armstrong	Annie Elizabeth Robson
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Walter Altman Armstrong	Annie Elizabeth Robson
	💍 1914/4706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electro-plater
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church East Belt Christchurch
Folio	8704
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Methodist

905

2 December 1914

John William Morris
Ida Brown

John William Morris
Ada Brown
💍 1914/3218

Divorced Decree absolute 27 May 1914
Spinster

Quarry Foreman

31
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
1 year

Registrar's Office Christchurch

7122

2 December 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	905
Date of Notice	2 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Morris	Ida Brown
BDM Match (94%)	John William Morris	Ada Brown
	💍 1914/3218
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 27 May 1914	Spinster
Profession	Quarry Foreman
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	7122
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

906

2 December 1914

Leonard Franklin
Betsey Pugh

Leonard Franklin
Betsy Pugh
💍 1914/4931

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Waitress

23
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
5 years

St Mary's Church Merivale

8748

2 December 1914

Rev. C. H. Gosset, Anglican

No	906
Date of Notice	2 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Franklin	Betsey Pugh
BDM Match (95%)	Leonard Franklin	Betsy Pugh
	💍 1914/4931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Waitress
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	8748
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Gosset, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).