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 2310

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

156

26 February 1915

Henry Davison Cunningham
Ethel Beatrice Brown

Henry Davison Cunningham
Ethel Beatrice Brown
💍 1915/382

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways

30
26

St. Albans
Christchurch

7 months
26 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

190

26 February 1915

Registrar

No	156
Date of Notice	26 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Davison Cunningham	Ethel Beatrice Brown
	💍 1915/382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	190
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

157

1 March 1915

James Nathan Abraham
Sarah Ann Rebekah Traves

James Nathan Abraham
Sarah Ann Rebekah Traves
💍 1915/383

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent

40
44

Dallington
Christchurch

9 years
8 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

191

1 March 1915

Registrar

No	157
Date of Notice	1 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Nathan Abraham	Sarah Ann Rebekah Traves
	💍 1915/383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent
Age	40	44
Dwelling Place	Dallington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	191
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

158

1 March 1915

Robert Leonard Scott
Frances Coburn

Robert Leonard Scott
Veronica Frances Coburn
💍 1915/384

Bachelor
Spinster

Flax-Mill Hand

27
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
5 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

192

1 March 1915

Registrar

No	158
Date of Notice	1 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Leonard Scott	Frances Coburn
BDM Match (80%)	Robert Leonard Scott	Veronica Frances Coburn
	💍 1915/384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flax-Mill Hand
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	192
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

159

1 March 1915

George Henry Davis
Irene Beatrice Woodham

George Henry Davis
Irene Beatrice Woodham
💍 1915/12205

Bachelor
Spinster

Dyer & Cleaner

23
19

St Albans
Christchurch

23 years
19 years

Methodist Parsonage, corner of Harper & Brougham Sts. Sydenham

1662

Chas. Geo. Woodham, Father

1 March 1915

Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	159
Date of Notice	1 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Davis	Irene Beatrice Woodham
	💍 1915/12205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dyer & Cleaner
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, corner of Harper & Brougham Sts. Sydenham
Folio	1662
Consent	Chas. Geo. Woodham, Father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

160

1 March 1915

Wilfred Oliver Stuart Adam
Agnes Macdonald

Wilfred Oliver Stuart Adam
Agnes Macdonald
💍 1915/508

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk New Zealand Railways
Musician

26
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
15 years

St. Peter's Church Woolston

2584

1 March 1915

Rev. T. McDonald, Methodist

No	160
Date of Notice	1 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Oliver Stuart Adam	Agnes Macdonald
	💍 1915/508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk New Zealand Railways	Musician
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Woolston
Folio	2584
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald, 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).