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 2070

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

9 February 1914

Gilbert Tulloch
Margaret Smith Hay

Gilbert Tulloch
Margaret Smith Hay
💍 1914/8011

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
28

Sydenham
Heathcote

3 years
4 years

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

1525

9 February 1914

Rev. J. Tait

No	91
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Tulloch	Margaret Smith Hay
	💍 1914/8011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Heathcote
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	1525
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tait

9 February 1914

Charles Percy Evans
Mary Ellen Killackey

Charles Percy Evans
Mary Ellen Killackey
💍 1914/8000

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

28 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

1515

9 February 1914

Rev. J. Long

No	92
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Percy Evans	Mary Ellen Killackey
	💍 1914/8000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	28 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	1515
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long

9 February 1914

Alexander Stuart
Emily Francis Higgs

Alexander Stuart
Emily Frances Higgs
💍 1914/402

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Housekeeper

30
26

New Brighton
Linwood

7 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

9 February 1914

Registrar

No	93
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Stuart	Emily Francis Higgs
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Stuart	Emily Frances Higgs
	💍 1914/402
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Housekeeper
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Linwood
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	93
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

10 February 1914

Frederick Bruce Reeves
Mary Ashworth

Frederick Bruce Reeves
Mary Ashworth
💍 1914/7995

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
34

St. Albans
St. Albans

3 months
3 months

House of Mr J. Ashworth 116 Bristol St St. Albans

1510

10 February 1914

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

No	94
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Bruce Reeves	Mary Ashworth
	💍 1914/7995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr J. Ashworth 116 Bristol St St. Albans
Folio	1510
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse

10 February 1914

Charles Jefferson Beswick
Edith Ivy Odgers

Charles Jefferson Beswick
Edith Ivy Odgers
💍 1914/8001

Bachelor
Spinster

Fettler
Tailoress

34
20

Linwood
Woolston

12 years
8 years

Methodist Church Opawa

1516

Richard Odgers, Father

10 February 1914

Rev. W. Laycock

No	95
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Jefferson Beswick	Edith Ivy Odgers
	💍 1914/8001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fettler	Tailoress
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Woolston
Length of Residence	12 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Opawa
Folio	1516
Consent	Richard Odgers, Father
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock

10 February 1914

William Graham MacMaster Fullarton
Edith Monspratt

William Graham MacMaster Fullerton
Edith Muspratt
💍 1914/8310

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
45

Burnham
Burnham

5 years
14 years

St. Andrews Manse Christchurch

1925

10 February 1914

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	96
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Graham MacMaster Fullarton	Edith Monspratt
BDM Match (92%)	William Graham MacMaster Fullerton	Edith Muspratt
	💍 1914/8310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	45
Dwelling Place	Burnham	Burnham
Length of Residence	5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Manse Christchurch
Folio	1925
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

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).