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 2082

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Frank Evans

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

163

10 March 1914

John Douglas
Florence Rosena Archbold

John Douglas
Florence Rosena Archbold
💍 1914/557

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

34
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
20 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

247

10 March 1914

Registrar

No	163
Date of Notice	10 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas	Florence Rosena Archbold
	💍 1914/557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	247
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

164

11 March 1914

George Hubert Rayment
Elizabeth Genge

George Hubert Rayment
Elizabeth Genge
💍 1914/8069

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
32

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
8 months

Merivale Church Merivale Christchurch

1601

11 March 1914

Rev. J. Hay

No	164
Date of Notice	11 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hubert Rayment	Elizabeth Genge
	💍 1914/8069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Merivale Church Merivale Christchurch
Folio	1601
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hay

165

11 March 1914

Thomas Eric McKenzie
Alice Lilian Adams

Thomas Eric McKenzie
Alice Lilias Adams
💍 1914/7538

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
18

Christchurch
Opawa

3 days
3 years

St. Mark's Church Opawa

1599

Joseph Wilfred Adams, Father

11 March 1914

Rev. H. Williams

No	165
Date of Notice	11 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Eric McKenzie	Alice Lilian Adams
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Eric McKenzie	Alice Lilias Adams
	💍 1914/7538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Opawa
Folio	1599
Consent	Joseph Wilfred Adams, Father
Date of Certificate	11 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams

166

11 March 1914

Arthur Arnold Radford
Norah Theresa Fahey

Arthur Arnold Radford
Norah Theresa Fahey
💍 1914/8080

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
5 days

House of Mr. L. Peach, St. John St. Woolston

1602

11 March 1914

Rev. S. Bonetto

No	166
Date of Notice	11 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Arnold Radford	Norah Theresa Fahey
	💍 1914/8080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. L. Peach, St. John St. Woolston
Folio	1602
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Bonetto

167

11 March 1914

Wilfred Louis Pidgeon
Amelia Beatrice Hartley

Wilfred Louis Pidgeon
Amelia Beatrice Hartley
💍 1914/8087

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Manager
Lady Help

20
16

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. John's Church Christchurch

1603

William Pidgeon Father, John Christopher Hartley Father

11 March 1914

Rev. P. J. Cocks

No	167
Date of Notice	11 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Louis Pidgeon	Amelia Beatrice Hartley
	💍 1914/8087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Manager	Lady Help
Age	20	16
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	1603
Consent	William Pidgeon Father, John Christopher Hartley Father
Date of Certificate	11 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks

168

11 March 1914

Stanley Augustine Nuttall Sullivan
Margaret Janet Arnott

Stanley Augustine Nuttall Sullivan
Margaret Janet Arnott
💍 1914/8088

Bachelor
Spinster

Gold Miner
Milliner

32
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 days
4 days

St. Michael's + All Saints Church Christchurch

1604

11 March 1914

Rev. C. S. Mutter

No	168
Date of Notice	11 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Augustine Nuttall Sullivan	Margaret Janet Arnott
	💍 1914/8088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gold Miner	Milliner
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Michael's + All Saints Church Christchurch
Folio	1604
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Mutter

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).