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 2224

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

897

1 December 1914

Walter Harold Griffiths
Florence Violet Page

Walter Harold Griffiths
Florence Violet Page
💍 1914/4738

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Packer

19
18

Addington
Addington

19 years
3 years

House of Mrs Watson, 21 Ward Street, Addington

8789

Mary Sophia Griffiths, mother (for groom); Sarah Maria Watson, 21 Ward Street, Addington, Guardian (for bride)

1 December 1914

Rev. H. G. Goring, Baptist

No	897
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Harold Griffiths	Florence Violet Page
	💍 1914/4738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Packer
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	19 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Watson, 21 Ward Street, Addington
Folio	8789
Consent	Mary Sophia Griffiths, mother (for groom); Sarah Maria Watson, 21 Ward Street, Addington, Guardian (for bride)
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Goring, Baptist

898

1 December 1914

Francis Harper Blakemore
Margaret Ralston Jones

Francis Harper Blakemore
Margaret Ralston Jones
💍 1914/4751

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Owner

25
23

Templeton
Templeton

2 years
7 years

Methodist Church, Sydenham

8778

1 December 1914

Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	898
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Harper Blakemore	Margaret Ralston Jones
	💍 1914/4751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Owner
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Templeton	Templeton
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Sydenham
Folio	8778
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

899

1 December 1914

Lee Hodgson
Violet May Dawson

Lee Hodgson
Violet May Dawson
💍 1914/4749

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer N.Z.R.

27
31

Sydenham
Linwood

3 days
12 years

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

8776

1 December 1914

Rev. O. Fitz Gerald, Anglican

No	899
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lee Hodgson	Violet May Dawson
	💍 1914/4749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer N.Z.R.
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	8776
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitz Gerald, Anglican

900

1 December 1914

Ernest Thornton Sugden
Winifred Emily Harvey

Ernest Thornton Sugden
Winifred Emily Harvey
💍 1914/4731

Bachelor
Spinster

Head Clothing Salesman

25
24

Richmond
Linwood

9 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, East Belt, Christchurch

8782

1 December 1914

Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Methodist

No	900
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Thornton Sugden	Winifred Emily Harvey
	💍 1914/4731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Head Clothing Salesman
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Linwood
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, East Belt, Christchurch
Folio	8782
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Methodist

901

1 December 1914

Frederick William Minchin
Emma Harriet Robinson

Frederick William Minchin
Emma Harriet Robinson
💍 1914/4736

Frederick William Targuse
Ellen Robinson
💍 1915/9191

Bachelor
Widow about 1907

Motorman

36
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
4 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

8787

1 December 1914

Rev. P. G. Cocks, Anglican

No	901
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Minchin	Emma Harriet Robinson
	💍 1914/4736
BDM Match (62%)	Frederick William Targuse	Ellen Robinson
	💍 1915/9191
Condition	Bachelor	Widow about 1907
Profession	Motorman
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8787
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Cocks, Anglican

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).