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 2231

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

932

12 December 1914

Archibald Frank Nicoll
Ellen Ethel Fearn

Archibald Frank Nicoll
Ellen Ethel Fearn
💍 1914/4936

Bachelor
Spinster

Artist

28
27

Spreydon
Spreydon

3 months
3 years

Mission Hall, Fisher Street, Christchurch

8761

12 December 1914

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	932
Date of Notice	12 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Frank Nicoll	Ellen Ethel Fearn
	💍 1914/4936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artist
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Mission Hall, Fisher Street, Christchurch
Folio	8761
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

933

14 December 1914

Reginald Barnett
Cora Francis Hill

Reginald Barnett
Cora Francis Hill
💍 1914/4935

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

26
25

St. Albans
Shirley

26 years
25 years

Anglican Church, Burwood

8760

14 December 1914

Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

No	933
Date of Notice	14 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Barnett	Cora Francis Hill
	💍 1914/4935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Shirley
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Burwood
Folio	8760
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

934

14 December 1914

Henry Walter Dallison
Maggie Sutherland Ferguson

Henry Walter Dallison
Maggie Sutherland Ferguson
💍 1914/4879

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer
Shop Assistant

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

27 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Durham Street, North, Christchurch

8729

14 December 1914

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	934
Date of Notice	14 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Walter Dallison	Maggie Sutherland Ferguson
	💍 1914/4879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer	Shop Assistant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, North, Christchurch
Folio	8729
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

935

14 December 1914

Sidney James Graham
Mary Eleanor Holland

Sidney James Graham
Mary Eleanor Holland
💍 1914/4944

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

27
23

Timaru
Christchurch

-
16 years

Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch

8768

14 December 1914

Rev. B. Metson, Methodist

No	935
Date of Notice	14 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney James Graham	Mary Eleanor Holland
	💍 1914/4944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Christchurch
Length of Residence	-	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	8768
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Metson, Methodist

936

14 December 1914

Leonard Chapman
Rose Evelyn Brown

Leonard Chapman
Rose Evelyn Brown
💍 1914/4943

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

27
28

Sydenham
Riccarton

27 years
9 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

8767

14 December 1914

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	936
Date of Notice	14 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Chapman	Rose Evelyn Brown
	💍 1914/4943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Riccarton
Length of Residence	27 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	8767
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, 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).