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 2288

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

19 January 1915

Ernest John Bell
Dorothy Alice Ell

Ernest John Bell
Dorothy Alice Ell
💍 1915/7894

Bachelor
Spinster

Librarian

29
21

Christchurch
Addington

19 months
Life

St Mary's Church, Addington

1616

19 January 1915

Rev. W.S. Bean, Anglican

No	46
Date of Notice	19 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Bell	Dorothy Alice Ell
	💍 1915/7894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Librarian
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Addington
Length of Residence	19 months	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	1616
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.S. Bean, Anglican

20 January 1915

Hugh McMullen
Margaret Anne Cassidy

Hugh McMullen
Margaret Anne Cassidy
💍 1915/7867

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee
Clerk

33
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

1564

20 January 1915

Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	20 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McMullen	Margaret Anne Cassidy
	💍 1915/7867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee	Clerk
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	1564
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

20 January 1915

Charles Edwin Dannercock
Lilla Marceline Breagh

Charles Edwin Saundercock
Lilla Mercelline Creagh
💍 1915/14275

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Bookkeeper

24
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 weeks

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

1652

20 January 1915

Rev. O. FitzGerald, Anglican

No	48
Date of Notice	20 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Dannercock	Lilla Marceline Breagh
BDM Match (88%)	Charles Edwin Saundercock	Lilla Mercelline Creagh
	💍 1915/14275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Bookkeeper
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	1652
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. FitzGerald, Anglican

20 January 1915

John Waters
Elizabeth Ann Bozo

John Watters
Elizabeth Ann Boss
💍 1915/7604

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

28 years
31 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

170

20 January 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	49
Date of Notice	20 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Waters	Elizabeth Ann Bozo
BDM Match (90%)	John Watters	Elizabeth Ann Boss
	💍 1915/7604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	28 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	170
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

20 January 1915

Bernard Loner
Margaret Lander

Bernard Toner
Margaret Lauder
💍 1915/12222

Bernard Gallagher
Margaret Hewes
💍 1915/1513

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
1 year

St Mary's Presbytery, Manchester St, Christchurch

1655

20 January 1915

Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	50
Date of Notice	20 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Loner	Margaret Lander
BDM Match (93%)	Bernard Toner	Margaret Lauder
	💍 1915/12222
BDM Match (63%)	Bernard Gallagher	Margaret Hewes
	💍 1915/1513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St Mary's Presbytery, Manchester St, Christchurch
Folio	1655
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare, 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).