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 2272

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar W. W. White

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

8 November 1915

David Graham Dick
Gladys Isabella Beatrice Clarke

David Graham Dick
Gladys Isabella Beatrice Clarke
💍 1915/7056

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

30
27

Killinchy
Tinwald

27 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

9542

8 November 1915

W. W. White Registrar

No	79
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Graham Dick	Gladys Isabella Beatrice Clarke
	💍 1915/7056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Tinwald
Length of Residence		27 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	9542
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

9 November 1915

Arthur John Hunt
Olive Madeline Ingham Dent

Arthur John Hunt
Olive Madeline Ingham Dent
💍 1915/7055

Bachelor
Spinster

Milkman
domestic duties

27
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

27 years
4 years

at the residence of J. H. Dent Ashburton

9541

9 November 1915

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	80
Date of Notice	9 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Hunt	Olive Madeline Ingham Dent
	💍 1915/7055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milkman	domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	27 years	4 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of J. H. Dent Ashburton
Folio	9541
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller

10 November 1915

Archibald Andrew Phillip Narbey
Emily Florence Quinnis

Archibald Andrew Phillip Narbey
Emily Florence Minnis
💍 1915/7058

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

35
36

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
36 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Ashburton

9544

10 November 1915

Dean O'Donnell

No	81
Date of Notice	10 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Andrew Phillip Narbey	Emily Florence Quinnis
BDM Match (95%)	Archibald Andrew Phillip Narbey	Emily Florence Minnis
	💍 1915/7058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	36 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Ashburton
Folio	9544
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Dean O'Donnell

15 November 1915

William Irwin
Barbara Glen

William Irwin
Barbara Glen
💍 1915/5823

Widower
Spinster

retired Farmer
domestic duties

67
57

Ashburton
Christchurch

3 years
6 weeks

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Christchurch

8154

15 November 1915

Rev. George Miller

No	82
Date of Notice	15 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Irwin	Barbara Glen
	💍 1915/5823
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	retired Farmer	domestic duties
Age	67	57
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Christchurch
Folio	8154
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller

15 November 1915

Nathan Davidson Gill
Jane Hannaford Lee

Nathan Davidson Gill
Jane Hannaford Lee
💍 1915/7057

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

33
24

Netherby
Netherby

15 months
10 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

9543

15 November 1915

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	83
Date of Notice	15 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathan Davidson Gill	Jane Hannaford Lee
	💍 1915/7057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Netherby	Netherby
Length of Residence	15 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	9543
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

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).