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 2389

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Alex. Montgomery

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

6 February 1914

Charles Emile William Just
Annie Beatrice Pairman

Charles Emile William Just
Annie Beatrice Pairman
💍 1914/7894

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Clerk
Domestic duties

31
25

Timaru
Governors Bay

15 months
20 years

St Cuthberts English Church Governors Bay

1378

6 February 1914

Rev Harold Purchas Church of England Clergyman

No	16
Date of Notice	6 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Emile William Just	Annie Beatrice Pairman
	💍 1914/7894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Governors Bay
Length of Residence	15 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St Cuthberts English Church Governors Bay
Folio	1378
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev Harold Purchas Church of England Clergyman

9 February 1914

Stanley Ernest Bloxham
Margaret Smith Thomson Begg

Stanley Ernest Bloxham
Margaret Smith Thomson Begg
💍 1914/8112

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Nil

24
26

Timaru
Timaru

5 weeks
10 weeks

Methodist Parsonage Arthur St Timaru

1653

9 February 1914

Rev J. Featherston Methodist Minister

No	17
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Ernest Bloxham	Margaret Smith Thomson Begg
	💍 1914/8112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Nil
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 weeks	10 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage Arthur St Timaru
Folio	1653
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Featherston Methodist Minister

10 February 1914

John Butler
Dorothea McLeod Wallace

John Butler
Dorothea McLeod Wallace
💍 1914/8298

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household duties

23
23

Timaru
Timaru

2 years
18 months

Manse of Rev A Macaulay Caldwell Harper St Timaru

1914

10 February 1914

Rev A Macaulay Caldwell Presbyterian Minister

No	18
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Butler	Dorothea McLeod Wallace
	💍 1914/8298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Manse of Rev A Macaulay Caldwell Harper St Timaru
Folio	1914
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A Macaulay Caldwell Presbyterian Minister

10 February 1914

John Henry Maries
Florence Letitia Batson

John Henry Maries
Florence Letitia Batson
💍 1914/6706

Divorced
Widow

Pianoforte Tuner
Toilet Specialist

45
34

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Timaru

376

10 February 1914

R. Orwin Deputy Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Maries	Florence Letitia Batson
	💍 1914/6706
Condition	Divorced	Widow
Profession	Pianoforte Tuner	Toilet Specialist
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Timaru
Folio	376
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Orwin Deputy Registrar

20 February 1914

Patrick Mulvihill
Caroline Kent

Patrick Mulvihill
Caroline Kent
💍 1914/8105

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

42
30

Beautiful Valley Geraldine
Timaru

30 years
11 months

Roman Catholic Church Timaru

1652

20 February 1914

Dean Tubman Roman Catholic Priest

No	20
Date of Notice	20 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Mulvihill	Caroline Kent
	💍 1914/8105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	42	30
Dwelling Place	Beautiful Valley Geraldine	Timaru
Length of Residence	30 years	11 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	1652
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Dean Tubman Roman Catholic Priest

21 February 1914

John Houlihan
Ellen Flynn

John Houlihan
Ellen Flynn
💍 1914/7937

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

24
29

Timaru
Timaru

24 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church Timaru

1405

21 February 1914

Rev M. A. Murphy Roman Catholic Priest

No	21
Date of Notice	21 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Houlihan	Ellen Flynn
	💍 1914/7937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	24 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	1405
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev M. A. Murphy Roman Catholic Priest

24 February 1914

Ernest Escott Brooking
Madge Elizabeth Mason

Ernest Ercott Brooking
Madge Elizabeth Mason
💍 1914/7930

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Musician

29
26

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
8 years

St Mary English Church Timaru

1404

24 February 1914

Rev C. L. Wilson Church of England Clergyman

No	22
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Escott Brooking	Madge Elizabeth Mason
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Ercott Brooking	Madge Elizabeth Mason
	💍 1914/7930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Musician
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St Mary English Church Timaru
Folio	1404
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev C. L. Wilson Church of England Clergyman

24 February 1914

Francis Jennings
Marion Agnes Buchanan

Francis Jennings
Marion Agnes Buchanan
💍 1914/2949

Francis Jennings
Marion Agnes Buchanan
💍 1914/7919

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
School Mistress

29
25

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
25 years

St Marys English Church Timaru

1403

24 February 1914

Archdeacon Jacob Church of England Clergyman

No	23
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Jennings	Marion Agnes Buchanan
	💍 1914/2949
	💍 1914/7919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	School Mistress
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St Marys English Church Timaru
Folio	1403
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Jacob Church of England Clergyman

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).