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 2436

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

776

22 September 1915

Llewellyn Allott Caygill
Marjorie Mabel Freeman

Llewellyn Allott Caygill
Marjorie Mabel Freeman
💍 1915/12397

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
6 years

Residence of Mr J. L. Freeman, 18 Matson's Road, Papanui

6537

22 September 1915

Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	776
Date of Notice	22 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Allott Caygill	Marjorie Mabel Freeman
	💍 1915/12397
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. L. Freeman, 18 Matson's Road, Papanui
Folio	6537
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

777

23 September 1915

Wilfred Gordon Brown
Viola Ann Neale

Wilfred Gordon Brown
Viola Ann Neale
💍 1915/5297

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

26
22

Belfast
Belfast

Life
21 years

St. David's Church, Belfast

7589

23 September 1915

Rev. T. M. Curnow, Anglican

No	777
Date of Notice	23 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Gordon Brown	Viola Ann Neale
	💍 1915/5297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Belfast	Belfast
Length of Residence	Life	21 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Belfast
Folio	7589
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. M. Curnow, Anglican

778

23 September 1915

Charles James Goulding
Henrietta Josephine Grant

Charles James Goulding
Henrietta Josephine Grant
💍 1915/4313

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Music Teacher

34
34

St. Albans
Sydenham

4 years
Life

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

6538

23 September 1915

Rev. T. W. Price, R.C.

No	778
Date of Notice	23 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Goulding	Henrietta Josephine Grant
	💍 1915/4313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Music Teacher
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	6538
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Price, R.C.

779

25 September 1915

Henry Joseph Hogan
Annie Booker

Henry Joseph Hogan
Annie Booker
💍 1915/4314

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Tailoress

29
27

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
4 months

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes St., Christchurch

6539

25 September 1915

Rev. J. Long, R.C.

No	779
Date of Notice	25 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Joseph Hogan	Annie Booker
	💍 1915/4314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Tailoress
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes St., Christchurch
Folio	6539
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, R.C.

780

25 September 1915

Harold Massey Carter
Eliza Ann Birkby

Harold Massey Carter
Eliza Ann Birkley
💍 1915/4315

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

41
40

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
4 years

Residence of Mr Barnett, 226 Montreal St., Christchurch

6540

25 September 1915

Mr R. Gebbie, Church of Christ

No	780
Date of Notice	25 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Massey Carter	Eliza Ann Birkby
BDM Match (94%)	Harold Massey Carter	Eliza Ann Birkley
	💍 1915/4315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Barnett, 226 Montreal St., Christchurch
Folio	6540
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr R. Gebbie, Church of Christ

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).