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 2352

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

364

30 April 1915

Cecil Stace
Gladys Fincham

Cecil Stace
Gladys Fincham
💍 1915/13903

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
21

Springston
Ellesmere

32 years
19 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

2499

30 April 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	364
Date of Notice	30 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Stace	Gladys Fincham
	💍 1915/13903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Springston	Ellesmere
Length of Residence	32 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	2499
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

365

3 May 1915

Alfred Henry Miller
Elizabeth Alice Laming

Alfred Henry Miller
Elizabeth Alice Laming
💍 1915/9887

Bachelor
Widow, April 1912

Seaman

32
50

Sydenham
Sydenham

8 years
20 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

2065

3 May 1915

Registrar

No	365
Date of Notice	3 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Miller	Elizabeth Alice Laming
	💍 1915/9887
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, April 1912
Profession	Seaman
Age	32	50
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	2065
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

366

3 May 1915

Arthur Elliot Ramsay
Evelyn Gladys Rebecca Cox

Arthur Elliot Ramsay
Evelyn Gladys Rebecca Cox
💍 1915/712

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

26
24

New Brighton
New Brighton

4 months
1 week

Anglican Church New Brighton

2647

3 May 1915

Rev. H. Mathias, Anglican

No	366
Date of Notice	3 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Elliot Ramsay	Evelyn Gladys Rebecca Cox
	💍 1915/712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	4 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Anglican Church New Brighton
Folio	2647
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Mathias, Anglican

367

3 May 1915

Harry Edward Coppin
Doris Hiniemoa Sleightholme

Harry Edward Coppin
Doris Hinemoa Sleightholme
💍 1915/499

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer

37
23

Upper Riccarton
Christchurch

37 years
23 years

St. Peter's Church Upper Riccarton

2549

3 May 1915

Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

No	367
Date of Notice	3 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Edward Coppin	Doris Hiniemoa Sleightholme
BDM Match (98%)	Harry Edward Coppin	Doris Hinemoa Sleightholme
	💍 1915/499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Upper Riccarton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	37 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Upper Riccarton
Folio	2549
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

368

4 May 1915

Alfred O'Sullivan
Lillian Kate Vallant

Alfred O'Sullivan
Lillian Kate Vallant
💍 1915/9302

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Dressmaker

23
24

Sydenham
Christchurch

23 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

2500

4 May 1915

Rev. T. W. Price, Roman Catholic

No	368
Date of Notice	4 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred O'Sullivan	Lillian Kate Vallant
	💍 1915/9302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Dressmaker
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	2500
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Price, Roman Catholic

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).