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 2967

District of Riverton Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar Arthur Evan Dobbie

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

933

5 October 1914

Henry George Coker
Biondella Ellicia Louisa Thomson

Henry George Coker
Biondella Ellicia Louisa Thomson
💍 1914/4334

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Shop assistant

26
25

Riverton
Riverton

3 days
20 years

Church of England at Riverton

8200

5 October 1914

Rev James Morland

No	933
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Coker	Biondella Ellicia Louisa Thomson
	💍 1914/4334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Shop assistant
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Riverton
Folio	8200
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev James Morland

934

9 November 1914

Clifford Brice
Mary Hayes

Clifford Brice
Mary Hayes
💍 1914/4333

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Cook

32
28

Riverton
Riverton

6 years
28 years

Roman Catholic Church at Riverton

8199

9 November 1914

Rev Patrick Murphy

No	934
Date of Notice	9 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Brice	Mary Hayes
	💍 1914/4333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Cook
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	6 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Riverton
Folio	8199
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev Patrick Murphy

935

14 November 1914

John Craig, Junior
Annie Hannah Wilson

John Craig
Annie Hannah Wilson
💍 1914/4335

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

29
23

Wild Bush
Wild Bush

3 days
23 years

at the residence of J. R. Wilson at Wild Bush

8201

14 November 1914

Major John J. Toomer

No	935
Date of Notice	14 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Craig, Junior	Annie Hannah Wilson
BDM Match (78%)	John Craig	Annie Hannah Wilson
	💍 1914/4335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Wild Bush	Wild Bush
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of J. R. Wilson at Wild Bush
Folio	8201
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Major John J. Toomer

936

17 November 1914

John Bates
Agnes Pawley

John Bates
Agnes Pawley
💍 1914/4332

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

39
38

Riverton
Raymond's Gap

2 weeks
20 years

at the Public Hospital Riverton

8198

17 November 1914

Rev Patrick Murphy

No	936
Date of Notice	17 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bates	Agnes Pawley
	💍 1914/4332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Raymond's Gap
Length of Residence	2 weeks	20 years
Marriage Place	at the Public Hospital Riverton
Folio	8198
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev Patrick Murphy

937

14 December 1914

Brigham Cameron Hancock
Mary McQuilkan

Brigham Cameron Hancock
Mary McQuilkan
💍 1914/4265

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Laundress

20
26

Riverton
Invercargill

20 years
9 months

at the dwelling of the Rev R. M. Ryburn at Invercargill

8154

Brigham Hancock, father

14 December 1914

Rev R. M. Ryburn

No	937
Date of Notice	14 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Brigham Cameron Hancock	Mary McQuilkan
	💍 1914/4265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Laundress
Age	20	26
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	9 months
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of the Rev R. M. Ryburn at Invercargill
Folio	8154
Consent	Brigham Hancock, father
Date of Certificate	14 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev R. M. Ryburn

938

24 December 1914

William Henderson Brown
Mary McPhee

William Henderson Brown
Mary McPhee
💍 1914/4313

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Household Duties

21
21

Colac Bay
Colac Bay

9 years
10 years

Residence of McDonald McPhee, Colac Bay

8203

29 December 1914

Rev John Webber

No	938
Date of Notice	24 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henderson Brown	Mary McPhee
	💍 1914/4313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Household Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Colac Bay	Colac Bay
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of McDonald McPhee, Colac Bay
Folio	8203
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev John Webber

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).