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 2060

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

12 January 1914

Frederick Lewis Wooles
Elsie Queen Broom

Frederick Lewis Wooles
Elsie Queen Broom
💍 1914/7692

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Shirt Machinist

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
22 years

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

1834

12 January 1914

Rev. O. FitzGerald

No	31
Date of Notice	12 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Lewis Wooles	Elsie Queen Broom
	💍 1914/7692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Shirt Machinist
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	1834
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. FitzGerald

12 January 1914

James Alphonsus Shears
Maud Mary Mitton

James Alphonsus Shears
Maud Mary Mitton
💍 1914/7593

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastrycook

32
24

St. Albans
St. Albans

4 years
9 months

Methodist Church, Edgeware Rd, St. Albans

1485

12 January 1914

Rev. L. B. Neale

No	32
Date of Notice	12 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alphonsus Shears	Maud Mary Mitton
	💍 1914/7593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastrycook
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	4 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Edgeware Rd, St. Albans
Folio	1485
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. B. Neale

13 January 1914

Patrick Armstrong Riddle
Lucie Ethel Allison

Patrick Armstrong Riddle
Lucie Ethel Allison
💍 1914/7592

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Music Teacher

33
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
33 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

1484

13 January 1914

Rev. S. D. Leach

No	33
Date of Notice	13 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Armstrong Riddle	Lucie Ethel Allison
	💍 1914/7592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Music Teacher
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	1484
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. D. Leach

13 January 1914

Samuel John Godfrey
Amy Rosina Jamieson

Samuel John Godfrey
Amy Rosina Jamieson
💍 1914/7591

Bachelor
Spinster

Enginedriver

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
5 months

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

1483

13 January 1914

Rev. H. W. Monaghan

No	34
Date of Notice	13 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel John Godfrey	Amy Rosina Jamieson
	💍 1914/7591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Enginedriver
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1483
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Monaghan

14 January 1914

Thomas Crawford
Sarah Rogers

Thomas Crawford
Sarah Rogers
💍 1914/9400

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
1 week

Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch

4494

14 January 1914

Rev. J. Cocker

No	35
Date of Notice	14 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Crawford	Sarah Rogers
	💍 1914/9400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch
Folio	4494
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker

14 January 1914

Francis James Booker
Annie Loversidge

Francis James Booker
Annie Loversidge
💍 1914/413

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur
Dressmaker

21
22

Linwood
Linwood

5 months
2 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

14 January 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	14 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis James Booker	Annie Loversidge
	💍 1914/413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur	Dressmaker
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	80
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).