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 2879

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar [illegible]

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

1 April 1914

Charles William Sharpe
Isabella Catherine McCallum

Charles William Sharfe
Isabella Catherine McCallum
💍 1914/6386

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

28
19

Pomona Road, Invercargill
Browns, Winton

5 months
3 years

Residence of Duncan McCallum, Browns, Winton

3796

1 April 1914

Rev. A. F. Ross

No	44
Date of Notice	1 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Sharpe	Isabella Catherine McCallum
BDM Match (98%)	Charles William Sharfe	Isabella Catherine McCallum
	💍 1914/6386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Pomona Road, Invercargill	Browns, Winton
Length of Residence	5 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Duncan McCallum, Browns, Winton
Folio	3796
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Ross

1 April 1914

George Dickson Wilson
Christina Jane McNeil

George Dickson Wilson
Christina Jane McNeil
💍 1914/6237

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
24

Tay Street, Invercargill
Evan Street, Invercargill

2 days
2 days

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

3747

1 April 1914

Rev. W. F. Findlay

No	45
Date of Notice	1 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Dickson Wilson	Christina Jane McNeil
	💍 1914/6237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Tay Street, Invercargill	Evan Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	3747
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Findlay

2 April 1914

Bertie Brayshaw
Christina Eva Aitken

Bertie Brayshaw
Christina Grace Aitken
💍 1914/9082

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor body maker
Domestic

22
26

Eye Street, Invercargill
Yarrawalla, Invercargill

3 years
3 years

Residence of F. William Aitken, Yarrawalla, Invercargill

4128

2 April 1914

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	46
Date of Notice	2 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Brayshaw	Christina Eva Aitken
BDM Match (91%)	Bertie Brayshaw	Christina Grace Aitken
	💍 1914/9082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor body maker	Domestic
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Eye Street, Invercargill	Yarrawalla, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of F. William Aitken, Yarrawalla, Invercargill
Folio	4128
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

3 April 1914

Robert Henry Peacock
Mary Myrtle Anderson

Robert Henry Adcock
Mary Myrtle Anderson
💍 1914/1032

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Domestic

22
20

Thomson Street, Invercargill
Kelvin Road, Invercargill

22 years
15 months

Wesleyan Church, Don Street, Invercargill

4723

Robert Anderson, father

3 April 1914

Rev. S. Henderson

No	47
Date of Notice	3 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Peacock	Mary Myrtle Anderson
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Henry Adcock	Mary Myrtle Anderson
	💍 1914/1032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Thomson Street, Invercargill	Kelvin Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Don Street, Invercargill
Folio	4723
Consent	Robert Anderson, father
Date of Certificate	3 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Henderson

4 April 1914

Louis Alfred Winsley
Mary Gladys Lumsden

Louis Alfred Wensley
Mary Gladys Lumsden
💍 1914/6239

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Home duties

28
25

Eye Street, Invercargill
Conon Street, Invercargill

2 years
25 years

English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

3749

4 April 1914

Rev. Arthur Packe

No	48
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Alfred Winsley	Mary Gladys Lumsden
BDM Match (98%)	Louis Alfred Wensley	Mary Gladys Lumsden
	💍 1914/6239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Home duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Eye Street, Invercargill	Conon Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	3749
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Packe

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).