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 2392

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

556

6 July 1915

Joseph Lyons
Margaret Teresa O'Leary

Joseph Lyons
Margaret Teresa O'Leary
💍 1915/4206

Bachelor
Widow 26.5.1901

Labourer

33
45

Addington
Addington

6 months
13 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

6380

6 July 1915

Rev. T. N. Price R. C.

No	556
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Lyons	Margaret Teresa O'Leary
	💍 1915/4206
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 26.5.1901
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	45
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	6 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	6380
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. N. Price R. C.

557

6 July 1915

John William Norton
Ivy Ethel Fisher

John William Norton
Ivy Ethel Fisher
💍 1915/4196

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

27
22

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 years
Life

Residence of Mr. R. Fisher 53 Hawdon St. Sydenham

6394

6 July 1915

Rev. A. H. Scotter Methodist

No	557
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Norton	Ivy Ethel Fisher
	💍 1915/4196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Fisher 53 Hawdon St. Sydenham
Folio	6394
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Scotter Methodist

558

6 July 1915

Frank Cecil Spencer
Myrtle Jardine Blank

Frank Cecil Spencer
Myrtle Jardino Bland
💍 1915/4198

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Schoolteacher

25
25

Sydenham
St. Albans

Life
20 years

Holy Trinity Church Avonside

6395

6 July 1915

Rev. O. Fitzgerald Anglican

No	558
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Cecil Spencer	Myrtle Jardine Blank
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Cecil Spencer	Myrtle Jardino Bland
	💍 1915/4198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Schoolteacher
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	St. Albans
Length of Residence	Life	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside
Folio	6395
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald Anglican

559

7 July 1915

Albert Henry Dalzell
Martha Paterson Halliburton

Albert Henry Dalzell
Martha Paterson Halliburton
💍 1915/4199

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

33
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
6 weeks

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

6396

7 July 1915

Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	559
Date of Notice	7 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Dalzell	Martha Paterson Halliburton
	💍 1915/4199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	6396
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

560

7 July 1915

Albert George Tutty
Edith Mary White

Albert George Tutty
Edith Mary White
💍 1915/14538

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Assistant

19
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 weeks

Registrar's Office Christchurch

4620

Wm. Tutty Father, Alice H. White Mother

7 July 1915

Registrar

No	560
Date of Notice	7 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Tutty	Edith Mary White
	💍 1915/14538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Assistant
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	4620
Consent	Wm. Tutty Father, Alice H. White Mother
Date of Certificate	7 July 1915
Officiating Minister	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).