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 2338

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

294

6 April 1915

Herbert Green
Esther Doherty

Herbert Green
Esther Nohelty
💍 1915/2760

Herbert Green
Annie Louise Clifton
💍 1915/4810

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Agent and Auctioneer
Hospital Nurse

31
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St Mary's Presbytery Manchester Street Christchurch

4842

6 April 1915

Very Rev. Dean Hills, Roman Catholic

No	294
Date of Notice	6 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Green	Esther Doherty
BDM Match (93%)	Herbert Green	Esther Nohelty
	💍 1915/2760
BDM Match (60%)	Herbert Green	Annie Louise Clifton
	💍 1915/4810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Agent and Auctioneer	Hospital Nurse
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Presbytery Manchester Street Christchurch
Folio	4842
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Hills, Roman Catholic

295

6 April 1915

William Joseph Ferguson
Ruby Sands

William Joseph Ferguson
Ruby Sands
💍 1915/581

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
27

Christchurch
Marshland

3 days
27 years

St Marks Church Marshland

2659

6 April 1915

Rev. F. Dunnage, Anglican

No	295
Date of Notice	6 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Ferguson	Ruby Sands
	💍 1915/581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Marshland
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Marshland
Folio	2659
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Dunnage, Anglican

296

6 April 1915

Raymond Watson Beresford
Annie Isabella Burnet

Raymond Waterson Beresford
Annie Isabella Burnet
💍 1915/9645

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist's Mechanic

25
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

-
15 years

St Paul's Presbyterian Church Christchurch

2478

6 April 1915

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	296
Date of Notice	6 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Watson Beresford	Annie Isabella Burnet
BDM Match (96%)	Raymond Waterson Beresford	Annie Isabella Burnet
	💍 1915/9645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist's Mechanic
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	-	15 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church Christchurch
Folio	2478
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

297

7 April 1915

John Samuel Brake
Jane Chiplin

John Samuel Brake
Jane Chiplin
💍 1915/536

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

36
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St Andrew's Church Christchurch

2613

7 April 1915

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	297
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel Brake	Jane Chiplin
	💍 1915/536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	2613
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

298

7 April 1915

Stanley Bruce Clifford
Alice Down

Stanley Bruce Clifford
Alice Down
💍 1915/575

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Schoolteacher

36
30

Linwood
Papanui

7 days
14 years

Methodist Church Harewood Rd Papanui

2653

7 April 1915

Rev. A. Peters, Methodist

No	298
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Bruce Clifford	Alice Down
	💍 1915/575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Schoolteacher
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Papanui
Length of Residence	7 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Harewood Rd Papanui
Folio	2653
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Methodist

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).