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 2396

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

576

15 July 1915

John Gwilym Parry
Ethel Maria Davies

John Gwilym Parry
Ethel Maria Davies
💍 1915/4283

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Schoolteacher

29
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 days
3 days

Residence of Mr. A. E. Marshall, 74 Stoneyhurst St, St Albans

6407

15 July 1915

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	576
Date of Notice	15 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gwilym Parry	Ethel Maria Davies
	💍 1915/4283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Schoolteacher
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. E. Marshall, 74 Stoneyhurst St, St Albans
Folio	6407
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

577

15 July 1915

Lionel Heber Bailey
Margery Sybil Dunn

Lionel Heber Bailey
Margery Sybil Dunn
💍 1915/4284

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Clerk

22
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
7 years

St Matthew's Church, St Albans

6408

William Dunn, father

15 July 1915

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	577
Date of Notice	15 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Heber Bailey	Margery Sybil Dunn
	💍 1915/4284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Clerk
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	7 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, St Albans
Folio	6408
Consent	William Dunn, father
Date of Certificate	15 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

578

15 July 1915

Albert Edward Austen
Ivy Beatrice Wotton

Albert Edward Austen
Ivy Beatrice Wotton
💍 1915/14533

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
23

Belfast
Belfast

2 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

4616

15 July 1915

Registrar

No	578
Date of Notice	15 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Austen	Ivy Beatrice Wotton
	💍 1915/14533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Belfast	Belfast
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	4616
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

579

15 July 1915

Walter Hollobon
Gladys Mary Inder

Walter Hollobon
Gladys Mary Inder
💍 1915/4285

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

24
22

New Brighton
New Brighton

4 months
6 months

Anglican Church New Brighton

6409

15 July 1915

Rev. H. Mathias, Anglican

No	579
Date of Notice	15 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hollobon	Gladys Mary Inder
	💍 1915/4285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	4 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church New Brighton
Folio	6409
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Mathias, Anglican

580

15 July 1915

James Widgery
Ada Ellen Leonibear

James Widgery
Ada Ellen Conibean
💍 1915/4262

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant
Milliner

26
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 years

Trinity Congregational Church Christchurch

6410

15 July 1915

Rev. H. Johnson, Congregational

No	580
Date of Notice	15 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Widgery	Ada Ellen Leonibear
BDM Match (92%)	James Widgery	Ada Ellen Conibean
	💍 1915/4262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Milliner
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church Christchurch
Folio	6410
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Johnson, Congregational

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).