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 2900

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 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

142

27 August 1914

Alfred Braker
Amy Harrington

Alfred Craker
Amy Harrington
💍 1914/2967

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Home duties

27
24

126 Leith St, Invercargill
122 Leith St, Invercargill

2 years
2 1/2 years

Residence of Kathleen Harrington, 122 Leith St, Invercargill

6595

27 August 1914

Very Rev. Co Burke

No	142
Date of Notice	27 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Braker	Amy Harrington
BDM Match (96%)	Alfred Craker	Amy Harrington
	💍 1914/2967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Home duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	126 Leith St, Invercargill	122 Leith St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Kathleen Harrington, 122 Leith St, Invercargill
Folio	6595
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Co Burke

143

29 August 1914

Charles Francis Lambert
Myrtle Ivy Mortimer

Charles Hardie Lambert
Myrtle Ivy Mortimer
💍 1914/2795

Bachelor
Spinster

Plate layer
Domestic

22
22

Woodland, Invercargill
Mataura, Invercargill

12 years
7 years

Presbyterian Church, Mataura, Invercargill

6571

29 August 1914

Rev. J. S. Young

No	143
Date of Notice	29 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Francis Lambert	Myrtle Ivy Mortimer
BDM Match (89%)	Charles Hardie Lambert	Myrtle Ivy Mortimer
	💍 1914/2795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plate layer	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Woodland, Invercargill	Mataura, Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mataura, Invercargill
Folio	6571
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Young

144

31 August 1914

Alfred John Burningham
Rebecca Muir

Alfred John Cunningham
Rebecca Muir
💍 1914/2881

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Guard
Domestic

30
24

Eye St, Invercargill
Tramway Rd, Invercargill

7 years
2 1/2 years

Presbyterian Church, Conon St., Invercargill

6609

31 August 1914

Rev. J. W. Shaw

No	144
Date of Notice	31 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Burningham	Rebecca Muir
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred John Cunningham	Rebecca Muir
	💍 1914/2881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Eye St, Invercargill	Tramway Rd, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Conon St., Invercargill
Folio	6609
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Shaw

145

31 August 1914

Charles F. Heywood
Mary Godwin Hewitt

Charles Heywood
Mary Godwin Hewitt
💍 1914/2961

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman
Domestic

21
24

Elles Road, Invercargill
Melbourne St, Invercargill

3 years
12 years

Office of Registrar, Invercargill

6589

31 August 1914

Registrar

No	145
Date of Notice	31 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles F. Heywood	Mary Godwin Hewitt
BDM Match (92%)	Charles Heywood	Mary Godwin Hewitt
	💍 1914/2961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman	Domestic
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Elles Road, Invercargill	Melbourne St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	6589
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

146

1 September 1914

David Ramsey Smith
Lily Cecilia Barclay

David Hannay Smith
Lily Cecilia Barclay
💍 1914/2788

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

32
32

Waikaka Valley, Gore
Ettrick St, Invercargill

27 years
20 years

Residence of Helen Isabella Barclay, Ettrick St, Invercargill

6565

1 September 1914

Rev. W. T. Evans

No	146
Date of Notice	1 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ramsey Smith	Lily Cecilia Barclay
BDM Match (89%)	David Hannay Smith	Lily Cecilia Barclay
	💍 1914/2788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Waikaka Valley, Gore	Ettrick St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Helen Isabella Barclay, Ettrick St, Invercargill
Folio	6565
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. T. Evans

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).