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 2062

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

19 January 1914

Frank Harper
Violet Simpson Falconer

Frank Harper
Violet Simpson Falconer
💍 1914/8307

Bachelor
Spinster

Asphalt contractor
Dressmaker

29
27

St Martins
Christchurch

27 years
27 years

House of Mrs M. Falconer, 125 Tuam St, Christchurch

1922

19 January 1914

Rev. J. Mackenzie

No	43
Date of Notice	19 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Harper	Violet Simpson Falconer
	💍 1914/8307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Asphalt contractor	Dressmaker
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	St Martins	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs M. Falconer, 125 Tuam St, Christchurch
Folio	1922
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie

20 January 1914

Edwin William Barnes
Elizabeth Sophia Milne

Edwin William Barnes
Elizabeth Sophia Milne
💍 1914/8017

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
7 weeks

St Michael's Church, Christchurch

1508

20 January 1914

Rev. N. E. Hawdon

No	44
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin William Barnes	Elizabeth Sophia Milne
	💍 1914/8017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	7 weeks
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1508
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. E. Hawdon

20 January 1914

Thomas Green
Martha Rose Reynolds

Thomas Green
Martha Rose Reynolds
💍 1914/7584

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance agent
Clerk

51
30

St Albans
St Albans

2 1/2 years
2 1/4 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch

1497

20 January 1914

Rev. R. J. Hoare

No	45
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Green	Martha Rose Reynolds
	💍 1914/7584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance agent	Clerk
Age	51	30
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 1/4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch
Folio	1497
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare

20 January 1914

Harry Eli Banfield
Evelyn Fraser Blease

Harry Eli Banfield
Evelyn Fraser Blease
💍 1914/416

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle mechanic
Machinist

28
24

Opawa
Linwood

22 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

20 January 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Eli Banfield	Evelyn Fraser Blease
	💍 1914/416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle mechanic	Machinist
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Linwood
Length of Residence	22 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	83
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

20 January 1914

Frederick William Hunt
Eliza Johanson

Frederick William Hunt
Eliza Johanson
💍 1914/8014

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 weeks
6 weeks

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

1505

Gabriel Johanson, father

20 January 1914

Rev. J. W. Price

No	47
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Hunt	Eliza Johanson
	💍 1914/8014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	1505
Consent	Gabriel Johanson, father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Price

20 January 1914

Harry Heatley
Margaret Ann Gibbons

Harry Heatley
Margaret Ann Gibbons
💍 1914/8015

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephone cable jointer

27
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
3 months

St Mary's Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch

1506

20 January 1914

Rev. F. Hills

No	48
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Heatley	Margaret Ann Gibbons
	💍 1914/8015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephone cable jointer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch
Folio	1506
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Hills

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).