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 2241

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

977

24 December 1914

Guy Sawthorp Calvert
Nellie Turner

Guy Gawthorp Calvert
Nellie Turner
💍 1914/4868

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer
Schoolteacher

23
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
25 years

Methodist Parsonage, 54 Chester St, Christchurch

8724

24 December 1914

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	977
Date of Notice	24 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Guy Sawthorp Calvert	Nellie Turner
BDM Match (98%)	Guy Gawthorp Calvert	Nellie Turner
	💍 1914/4868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer	Schoolteacher
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, 54 Chester St, Christchurch
Folio	8724
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

978

24 December 1914

Charles Alfred Cassidy
Catherine Anna Johnston

Charles Alfred Cassidy
Catherine Ann Johnston
💍 1914/5214

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

20
25

Rolleston
Rolleston

15 months
25 years

House of Mr Rickard, 81 Ft High St, Christchurch

9190

Rev. Edwin Cassidy, Father

24 December 1914

Rev. J Cocker, Methodist

No	978
Date of Notice	24 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Cassidy	Catherine Anna Johnston
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Alfred Cassidy	Catherine Ann Johnston
	💍 1914/5214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	20	25
Dwelling Place	Rolleston	Rolleston
Length of Residence	15 months	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Rickard, 81 Ft High St, Christchurch
Folio	9190
Consent	Rev. Edwin Cassidy, Father
Date of Certificate	24 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J Cocker, Methodist

979

24 December 1914

John Holmes Runnicles
Mabel Amy Cooper

John Holmes Runnicles
Mabel Amy Cooper
💍 1915/13349

Bachelor
Spinster

Professor of Music

36
32

Christchurch
St Albans

8 years
5 years

St Matthew's Church, St Albans

1567

24 December 1914

Rev. R. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	979
Date of Notice	24 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Holmes Runnicles	Mabel Amy Cooper
	💍 1915/13349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Professor of Music
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St Albans
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, St Albans
Folio	1567
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Haggitt, Anglican

980

24 December 1914

Charles Frederick Hansen
Margaret Pollock

Charles Frederick Hansen
Margaret Pollock
💍 1915/9248

Widower 27-9-1908
Spinster

Dairy Farmer

34
29

Greenpark
Templeton

2 years
3 1/2 years

House of Mr E. A. Constable, Templeton

1580

24 December 1914

Rev. H. Ranston, Methodist

No	980
Date of Notice	24 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Hansen	Margaret Pollock
	💍 1915/9248
Condition	Widower 27-9-1908	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Greenpark	Templeton
Length of Residence	2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr E. A. Constable, Templeton
Folio	1580
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Ranston, Methodist

981

24 December 1914

Joseph Morton
Mary Gribben

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

60
39

Ohakune
Christchurch

7 years
10 weeks

St Joseph's Church, Wellington

2241

24 December 1914

Rev. D. Hurley, R.C. (not issued. Ohakune Certif not required nor issued. Parties will reside 3 days in Dist in which mge is to take place (Wellington))

No	981
Date of Notice	24 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Morton	Mary Gribben
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	60	39
Dwelling Place	Ohakune	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	10 weeks
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	2241
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Hurley, R.C. (not issued. Ohakune Certif not required nor issued. Parties will reside 3 days in Dist in which mge is to take place (Wellington))

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).