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 2238

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

962

21 December 1914

Lewis Arthur Griffin Rich
Ellen Jory

Lewis Arthur Griffin Rich
Ellen Jory
💍 1914/4862

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

35
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
22 years

St John's Church, Christchurch

8736

21 December 1914

Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican

No	962
Date of Notice	21 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Arthur Griffin Rich	Ellen Jory
	💍 1914/4862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8736
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican

963

22 December 1914

John Smyth
Clarice Blanche Cheesman

John Smyth
Clarice Blanche Cheesman
💍 1914/4952

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
25

Wellington
Christchurch

7 years
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

8753

22 December 1914

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	963
Date of Notice	22 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smyth	Clarice Blanche Cheesman
	💍 1914/4952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	8753
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

964

22 December 1914

Albert Edward Bartle commonly known as Albert Edward Bartle Rankin
Jane Mitchell

Albert Edward Bartle Rankin
Jane Mitchell
💍 1915/11834

Divorced Decree absolute 17-9-1913
Spinster

Mercantile Manager
Saleswoman

38
30

Redcliffs
Lower Hutt

35 years

Residence of Mr. W. Nicholson, Lower Hutt, Wellington

365

22 December 1914

Rev. Jas. McCaw, Presbyterian

No	964
Date of Notice	22 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Bartle commonly known as Albert Edward Bartle Rankin	Jane Mitchell
BDM Match (70%)	Albert Edward Bartle Rankin	Jane Mitchell
	💍 1915/11834
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 17-9-1913	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Manager	Saleswoman
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Redcliffs	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Nicholson, Lower Hutt, Wellington
Folio	365
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. McCaw, Presbyterian

965

22 December 1914

Edgar Barker
Flora Butler

Edgar Barber
Flora Butter
💍 1915/13338

Bachelor
Spinster

Striker
Machinist

23
25

Sydenham
Sydenham

6 days
2 1/2 years

St Mark's Church, Opawa

1582

22 December 1914

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	965
Date of Notice	22 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Barker	Flora Butler
BDM Match (92%)	Edgar Barber	Flora Butter
	💍 1915/13338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Striker	Machinist
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	6 days	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Opawa
Folio	1582
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

966

22 December 1914

John Charles Rawson
Ruth Flesher

John Charles Rawson
Ruth Flesher
💍 1914/5212

Bachelor
Spinster

Brassfounder

34
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
31 years

House of Mr. J. T. R. Flesher, 32 Charles St, Christchurch

9188

22 December 1914

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	966
Date of Notice	22 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Rawson	Ruth Flesher
	💍 1914/5212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brassfounder
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	31 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. T. R. Flesher, 32 Charles St, Christchurch
Folio	9188
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

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).