Intentions to Marry, 1915 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840461, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1915e contains pages 1973-2618, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 2486

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1915

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

1019

8 December 1915

Henry Zachariah Price
Edith Annie Coull

Henry Zacherich Price
Edith Annie Coull
💍 1915/6333

Widower 15 September 1915
Spinster

Brassfounder

60
40

Linwood
Christchurch

19 years
8 years

St. Andrew's Manse Christchurch

8709

8 December 1915

Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

No	1019
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Zachariah Price	Edith Annie Coull
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Zacherich Price	Edith Annie Coull
	💍 1915/6333
Condition	Widower 15 September 1915	Spinster
Profession	Brassfounder
Age	60	40
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse Christchurch
Folio	8709
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

1020

8 December 1915

David Bryden
Doris Hayward

David Bryden
Doris Hayward
💍 1915/5921

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

33
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 years
3 days

St. Luke's Church Christchurch

8194

8 December 1915

Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

No	1020
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Bryden	Doris Hayward
	💍 1915/5921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	8194
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

1021

8 December 1915

Rochfort Snow
Lucianne Robina D'Oyley

Rochfort Snow
Lucianne Robina D'oyly
💍 1915/5922

Widower 20 March 1912
Spinster

Retired Civil Servant

64
49

Fendalton
Christchurch

3 years
25 years

St. Mary's Church Merivale

8195

8 December 1915

Rev. P. B. Haggitt Anglican

No	1021
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rochfort Snow	Lucianne Robina D'Oyley
BDM Match (96%)	Rochfort Snow	Lucianne Robina D'oyly
	💍 1915/5922
Condition	Widower 20 March 1912	Spinster
Profession	Retired Civil Servant
Age	64	49
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	8195
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt Anglican

1022

8 December 1915

Herbert William Foster
Minnie Cecilia Winn

Herbert William Foster
Minnie Cecilia Winn
💍 1915/5923

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
23

Ellesmere
Lincoln

23 years
3 months

Presbyterian Church Lincoln

8196

8 December 1915

Rev. S. E. Hill Presbyterian

No	1022
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Foster	Minnie Cecilia Winn
	💍 1915/5923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Ellesmere	Lincoln
Length of Residence	23 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Lincoln
Folio	8196
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. E. Hill Presbyterian

1023

8 December 1915

Walter John Densem
Amy Agnes Arthur

Walter John Densem
Amy Agnes Arthur
💍 1916/8739

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastrycook
Tailoress

27
22

St. Albans
St. Albans

3 years
4 years

Methodist Church Edgeware Road St. Albans

1474

8 December 1915

Rev. A. A. Bensley Methodist

No	1023
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Densem	Amy Agnes Arthur
	💍 1916/8739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastrycook	Tailoress
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Edgeware Road St. Albans
Folio	1474
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Bensley Methodist

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).