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 2236

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

952

19 December 1914

John Saxton
Ethel McLean

John Saxton
Ethel McLean
💍 1914/4938

John Cameron
Janet McLean
💍 1914/7763

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

40
27

Saint Albans
Sydenham

4 years
5 weeks

House of Mr. H. Clarke, 73 Fairfield Street, Christchurch

8763

19 December 1914

Rev. T. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	952
Date of Notice	19 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Saxton	Ethel McLean
	💍 1914/4938
BDM Match (67%)	John Cameron	Janet McLean
	💍 1914/7763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Saint Albans	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Mr. H. Clarke, 73 Fairfield Street, Christchurch
Folio	8763
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Vealie, Methodist

953

19 December 1914

Walter Andrew Brown
Nellie Alice Newton

Walter Andrew Brown
Nellie Alice Newton
💍 1914/4713

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher

22
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 weeks
17 years

Saint Luke's Church, Christchurch

8712

19 December 1914

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	953
Date of Notice	19 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Andrew Brown	Nellie Alice Newton
	💍 1914/4713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 weeks	17 years
Marriage Place	Saint Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8712
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

954

19 December 1914

William Wardell
Mary Whiteford

William Wardell
Mary Whiteford
💍 1914/4869

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

31
33

Hillmorton
Hillmorton

4 months
4 months

Saint Paul's Church, Christchurch

8742

19 December 1914

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	954
Date of Notice	19 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wardell	Mary Whiteford
	💍 1914/4869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Hillmorton	Hillmorton
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Saint Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8742
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

955

19 December 1914

Peter O'Malley
Albertha Ruby Woodham

Peter O'Mally
Albertha Ruby Woodham
💍 1914/3236

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Grocers

27
23

Sydenham
Woolston

12 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7132

19 December 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	955
Date of Notice	19 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter O'Malley	Albertha Ruby Woodham
BDM Match (96%)	Peter O'Mally	Albertha Ruby Woodham
	💍 1914/3236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Grocers
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Woolston
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7132
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

956

21 December 1914

William Phillip Bates
Florence Violet Jones

William Phillip Bates
Florence Violet Jones
💍 1914/4723

Bachelor
Spinster

Slater
Factory Hand

21
22

Linwood
Spreydon

9 months
11 years

House of Mr. Jones, 8 Cheviot Street, Spreydon

8697

21 December 1914

Rev. W. Harris, Methodist

No	956
Date of Notice	21 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Phillip Bates	Florence Violet Jones
	💍 1914/4723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slater	Factory Hand
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Spreydon
Length of Residence	9 months	11 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Jones, 8 Cheviot Street, Spreydon
Folio	8697
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Harris, 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).