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 2871

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 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

28 January 1914

James Mitchell Dow
Ellen Rayner

James Dow Mitchell
Ellen Rayner
💍 1914/8256

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist
Domestic

37
27

Enon Street, Invercargill
Blenheim

5 years
3 months

Residence of Joshua Brown Rayner, Scott Street, Blenheim

1871

28 January 1914

Rev. Andrew Bruce

No	11
Date of Notice	28 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mitchell Dow	Ellen Rayner
BDM Match (78%)	James Dow Mitchell	Ellen Rayner
	💍 1914/8256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist	Domestic
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Enon Street, Invercargill	Blenheim
Length of Residence	5 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Joshua Brown Rayner, Scott Street, Blenheim
Folio	1871
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrew Bruce

2 February 1914

Henry Gordon Aston
Ada May Whitaker

Henry Gordon Aston
Ada May Whitaker
💍 1914/8172

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

23
17

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Richmond Grove, Invercargill

1 year
3 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

1788

William H. Whitaker, father

2 February 1914

Rev. Archdeacon Packe

No	12
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gordon Aston	Ada May Whitaker
	💍 1914/8172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Richmond Grove, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	1788
Consent	William H. Whitaker, father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Packe

2 February 1914

Harold Cameron Kelly
Elizabeth Douglas Henderson

Harold Cameron Kelly
Elizabeth Douglas Henderson
💍 1914/8173

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

26
26

78 Clyde Street, Invercargill
51 Bluff Road, Invercargill

7 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church, Conon Street, Invercargill

1789

2 February 1914

Rev. J. M. Shaw

No	13
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Cameron Kelly	Elizabeth Douglas Henderson
	💍 1914/8173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	78 Clyde Street, Invercargill	51 Bluff Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Conon Street, Invercargill
Folio	1789
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Shaw

2 February 1914

Richard Richards
Helen Graham Watt Maxwell

Richard Richards
Helen Graham Watt Maxwell
💍 1914/8174

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier
Shop Assistant

24
21

Grey Street, Gladstone, Invercargill
Ettrick Street, Invercargill

1 year
3 months

Victoria Hall (First Church), Ythan Street, Invercargill

1790

2 February 1914

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	14
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Richards	Helen Graham Watt Maxwell
	💍 1914/8174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier	Shop Assistant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Grey Street, Gladstone, Invercargill	Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	3 months
Marriage Place	Victoria Hall (First Church), Ythan Street, Invercargill
Folio	1790
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

5 February 1914

George Harold Lister
Mary Lowis

George Harold Lister
Mary Howie
💍 1914/8176

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Shop Assistant

23
24

Enon Street, Collingwood, Invercargill
Sydney Street, Invercargill

3 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Elles Road, Invercargill

1792

5 February 1914

Rev. G. P. Hunt

No	15
Date of Notice	5 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harold Lister	Mary Lowis
BDM Match (90%)	George Harold Lister	Mary Howie
	💍 1914/8176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Shop Assistant
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Enon Street, Collingwood, Invercargill	Sydney Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	1792
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt

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).