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 2875

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

2 March 1914

Ivor Lindsay Westley Lock
Violet Hilpa Florence Haynes

Ivor Lindsay Westley Lock
Violet Hilda Florence Hughes
💍 1914/6561

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Machinist

25
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 months
2 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

362

2 March 1914

Deputy Registrar of Marriages

No	31
Date of Notice	2 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivor Lindsay Westley Lock	Violet Hilpa Florence Haynes
BDM Match (93%)	Ivor Lindsay Westley Lock	Violet Hilda Florence Hughes
	💍 1914/6561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	362
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar of Marriages

3 March 1914

Hugh Fox
Harriet Aldridge Patchett

Hugh Fox
Harriet Aldridge Patchett
💍 1914/6562

Bachelor
Spinster

Electroplater
Domestic

27
22

Earnslaw St, Invercargill
Ythan St, Invercargill

18 months
22 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

363

3 March 1914

Registrar of Marriages

No	32
Date of Notice	3 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Fox	Harriet Aldridge Patchett
	💍 1914/6562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electroplater	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Earnslaw St, Invercargill	Ythan St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	363
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

10 March 1914

John Marshall
Muriel Symond Glover

John Marshall
Muriel Slymond Glover
💍 1914/8211

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

26
21

Otatara, Invercargill
Taramoa, Invercargill

17 years
21 years

Residence of Mr George Glover, Taramoa, Invercargill

1803

10 March 1914

Rev A. Begg

No	33
Date of Notice	10 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Marshall	Muriel Symond Glover
BDM Match (98%)	John Marshall	Muriel Slymond Glover
	💍 1914/8211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Otatara, Invercargill	Taramoa, Invercargill
Length of Residence	17 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr George Glover, Taramoa, Invercargill
Folio	1803
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Begg

11 March 1914

George Henderson
Elizabeth Deans Craie

George Henderson
Elizabeth Dunn Craies
💍 1914/8185

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Domestic

26
20

Clyde St, Invercargill
Clyde St, Invercargill

4 days
20 years

Residence of Mr Deans Craie, 157 Clyde St, Invercargill

1800

William Dougall Craie, father

11 March 1914

Rev F. B. Lawrence

No	34
Date of Notice	11 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henderson	Elizabeth Deans Craie
BDM Match (91%)	George Henderson	Elizabeth Dunn Craies
	💍 1914/8185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Clyde St, Invercargill	Clyde St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Deans Craie, 157 Clyde St, Invercargill
Folio	1800
Consent	William Dougall Craie, father
Date of Certificate	11 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev F. B. Lawrence

16 March 1914

Walter Langmuir
Helen Somerville

Walter Langmuir
Helen Somerville
💍 1914/8193

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder
Domestic

21
17

Tweed St, Invercargill
Woodend, Invercargill

21 years
17 years

Residence of Allan Langmuir, Tweed St, Invercargill

1801

James Somerville, father

16 March 1914

Rev E. Gardiner

No	35
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Langmuir	Helen Somerville
	💍 1914/8193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder	Domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Tweed St, Invercargill	Woodend, Invercargill
Length of Residence	21 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Allan Langmuir, Tweed St, Invercargill
Folio	1801
Consent	James Somerville, father
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Gardiner

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).