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 2394

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

566

10 July 1915

Frederick William Schumacher
Violet Kathleen Lawrence

Frederick William Schumacher
Violet Kathleen Lawrence
💍 1915/4203

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

26
18

Papanui
Papanui

Life
6 months

St. Paul's Church Papanui

6400

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

26 July 1915

Rev. W. H. Orbell Anglican

No	566
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Schumacher	Violet Kathleen Lawrence
	💍 1915/4203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	Life	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Papanui
Folio	6400
Consent	There is no person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent.
Date of Certificate	26 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell Anglican

567

10 July 1915

David John Wesney
Emma Mather Livermore known as Emma Mather Livermore Ibotson

David John Wesney
Emma Mather Livemore Ibbotson
💍 1915/4261

Widower, January 1911
Spinster

Company Secretary
Teacher of Music

34
33

Sydenham
Sydenham

6 days
6 years

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

6401

10 July 1915

Rev. P. Knight Methodist

No	567
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John Wesney	Emma Mather Livermore known as Emma Mather Livermore Ibotson
BDM Match (73%)	David John Wesney	Emma Mather Livemore Ibbotson
	💍 1915/4261
Condition	Widower, January 1911	Spinster
Profession	Company Secretary	Teacher of Music
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	6 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	6401
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight Methodist

568

10 July 1915

Joseph Edward Briggs
Eliza Maud Smart

Joseph Edward Briggs
Eliza Maud Smart
💍 1915/14531

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

32
33

Shirley
Linwood

13 years
Life

Registrar's Office Christchurch

4614

10 July 1915

Registrar

No	568
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Briggs	Eliza Maud Smart
	💍 1915/14531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Shirley	Linwood
Length of Residence	13 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	4614
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

569

12 July 1915

James Brennan
Hannah Dowd

James Brennan
Hannah Dowd
💍 1915/14534

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Implement Agent

26
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
1 year

Registrar's Office Christchurch

4617

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

27 July 1915

Registrar

No	569
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brennan	Hannah Dowd
	💍 1915/14534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Implement Agent
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	4617
Consent	There is no person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

570

12 July 1915

Robert Wasley Philps
Greta Virginia Tonkin

Robert Wasley Philps
Greta Virginia Tonkin
💍 1915/4272

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
6 years

St. Luke's Church Christchurch

6402

12 July 1915

Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

No	570
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Wasley Philps	Greta Virginia Tonkin
	💍 1915/4272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	6402
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

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).