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 2296

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

2 February 1915

William Thomas White
May Gilbert

William Thomas White
May Gilbert
💍 1915/394

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

178

2 February 1915

Registrar

No	86
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas White	May Gilbert
	💍 1915/394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	178
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

2 February 1915

Thomas Jenkins
Bertha Flora Millar

Thomas Jenkins
Bertha Flora Millar
💍 1915/395

Divorced decree absolute 28.1.1915
Divorced decree absolute 28.1.1915

Butcher

35
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 months
5 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

179

2 February 1915

Registrar

No	87
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jenkins	Bertha Flora Millar
	💍 1915/395
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 28.1.1915	Divorced decree absolute 28.1.1915
Profession	Butcher
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	179
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

3 February 1915

Percy William Anderson
Emily Maude Harris

Percy William Anderson
Emily Maude Harris
💍 1915/7904

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
32

Christchurch
Sydenham

3 days
20 years

St Augustines Church, Cashmere Hills

1625

3 February 1915

Rev. F. R. Inwood, Anglican

No	88
Date of Notice	3 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Anderson	Emily Maude Harris
	💍 1915/7904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church, Cashmere Hills
Folio	1625
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. R. Inwood, Anglican

3 February 1915

William Richard Pinnell
Helen Margaret Richardson

William Richard Pinwill
Helen Margaret Richardson
💍 1915/7903

Bachelor
Spinster

Army Officer

41
22

Trentham
Cashmere

1 month
6 years

St Saviours Church, Sydenham

1624

3 February 1915

Rev. H. O. Leach, Anglican

No	89
Date of Notice	3 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Pinnell	Helen Margaret Richardson
BDM Match (96%)	William Richard Pinwill	Helen Margaret Richardson
	💍 1915/7903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Army Officer
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Cashmere
Length of Residence	1 month	6 years
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church, Sydenham
Folio	1624
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. O. Leach, Anglican

4 February 1915

William Tuck
Florence Bell

William Tuck
Florence Bell
💍 1915/7890

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

32
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

32 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Durham Street North, Christchurch

1612

4 February 1915

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	90
Date of Notice	4 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tuck	Florence Bell
	💍 1915/7890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	32 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street North, Christchurch
Folio	1612
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, 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).