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 2416

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

676

20 August 1915

William Leslie Ronald Brown
Mabel Susan Beattie

William Leslie Ronald Brown
Mabel Susan Beattie
💍 1915/4226

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Tailoress

22
22

Riccarton
Addington

7 years
Life

St. Andrew's Manse Christchurch

6474

20 August 1915

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	676
Date of Notice	20 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Ronald Brown	Mabel Susan Beattie
	💍 1915/4226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Tailoress
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Addington
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse Christchurch
Folio	6474
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

677

20 August 1915

George Alexander Hudson
Laurie Constance Griffin

George Alexander Hudson
Laurie Constance Griffin
💍 1915/4227

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

28
25

Sydenham
Christchurch

Life
Life

St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch

6475

20 August 1915

Rev. Dean Hills, Roman Catholic

No	677
Date of Notice	20 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Hudson	Laurie Constance Griffin
	💍 1915/4227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch
Folio	6475
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Hills, Roman Catholic

678

20 August 1915

Ernest Bougen
Olive Muriel Hedge

Ernest Bougen
Olive Muriel Hedge
💍 1915/14557

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

28
20

Halswell
Addington

27 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

4640

There is no person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent

6 September 1915

Registrar

No	678
Date of Notice	20 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Bougen	Olive Muriel Hedge
	💍 1915/14557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Halswell	Addington
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	4640
Consent	There is no person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

679

20 August 1915

Johnson Vivian Thomas
Maud Victoria Clements

Johnson Vivian Thomas
Maud Victoria Clements
💍 1915/4228

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Tailoress

22
19

Sydenham
Sydenham

Life
1 year

St. John's Church Christchurch

6476

There is no person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent

4 September 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	679
Date of Notice	20 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Johnson Vivian Thomas	Maud Victoria Clements
	💍 1915/4228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Tailoress
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	1 year
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	6476
Consent	There is no person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

680

24 August 1915

John Campbell Jamieson
Naomi Annie Meikle

John Campbell Jamison
Naomi Anne Meikle
💍 1915/14555

Previously married on 16-8-1915 at Christchurch
Spinster

Carpenter

25
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

4638

James Meikle Father

31 August 1915

Rev. F. Rule, Presbyterian

No	680
Date of Notice	24 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Campbell Jamieson	Naomi Annie Meikle
BDM Match (95%)	John Campbell Jamison	Naomi Anne Meikle
	💍 1915/14555
Condition	Previously married on 16-8-1915 at Christchurch	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	4638
Consent	James Meikle Father
Date of Certificate	31 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Rule, Presbyterian

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).