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 2324

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

226

24 March 1915

Cecil John Bradley
Margaret Jane Varcoe

Cecil John Bradley
Margaret Jane Varcoe
💍 1915/404

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor and Cutter
Dressmaker

24
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
4 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

212

24 March 1915

Registrar

No	226
Date of Notice	24 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil John Bradley	Margaret Jane Varcoe
	💍 1915/404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor and Cutter	Dressmaker
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	212
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

227

24 March 1915

George Allan Norton
Jane Louisa Webb

George Allan Norton
Jane Louisa Webb
💍 1915/766

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

22
21

Woolston
Woolston

6 years
16 years

St. John's Church woolston

2779

24 March 1915

Rev. H. N. Roberts Anglican

No	227
Date of Notice	24 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Allan Norton	Jane Louisa Webb
	💍 1915/766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	6 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church woolston
Folio	2779
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Roberts Anglican

228

24 March 1915

Peter James Rawlings
Emma Charlotte Caroline Ehlers

Peter James Rawlings
Emma Charlotte Caroline Ehlers
💍 1915/7933

Bachelor
Spinster

Soapmaker

33
29

Spreydon
St. Albans

Life
3 years

House of Mr. P. J. Rawlings 12 Milton St., Spreydon

1706

24 March 1915

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	228
Date of Notice	24 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter James Rawlings	Emma Charlotte Caroline Ehlers
	💍 1915/7933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soapmaker
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	St. Albans
Length of Residence	Life	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. P. J. Rawlings 12 Milton St., Spreydon
Folio	1706
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

229

25 March 1915

Robert Allan Bird Kingsbury
Anastasia Callaghan

Robert Alan Boid Kingsbury
Anastasia Callaghan
💍 1915/13878

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Costumier

24
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
2 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

2524

25 March 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	229
Date of Notice	25 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Allan Bird Kingsbury	Anastasia Callaghan
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Alan Boid Kingsbury	Anastasia Callaghan
	💍 1915/13878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Costumier
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	2524
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks Anglican

230

25 March 1915

Percy Wentworth Reeves
Constance Ellen Maclagan

Percy Wentworth Reeves
Constance Ellen Maclagan
💍 1915/9358

Widower 28 August 1913
Widow 12 June 1906

Farmer

30
32

New Brighton
Woolston

16 months
4 years

House of Mrs. A. Cunningham 98 Randolph St, Woolston

1689

25 March 1915

Rev. W. Laycock Methodist

No	230
Date of Notice	25 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Wentworth Reeves	Constance Ellen Maclagan
	💍 1915/9358
Condition	Widower 28 August 1913	Widow 12 June 1906
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Woolston
Length of Residence	16 months	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. A. Cunningham 98 Randolph St, Woolston
Folio	1689
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock 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).