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 2274

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

20 December 1915

Gerald Midland Breeze
Annie Violet McIlraith

Gerald Milland Breeze
Annie Violet McIlraith
💍 1915/7044

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
dress-maker

29
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

29 years
6 years

Baptist Manse Ashburton

9531

20 December 1915

Rev. Frank Oldrieve

No	89
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Midland Breeze	Annie Violet McIlraith
BDM Match (98%)	Gerald Milland Breeze	Annie Violet McIlraith
	💍 1915/7044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	dress-maker
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	29 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Manse Ashburton
Folio	9531
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frank Oldrieve

21 December 1915

James Bowie Kirk
Mary Smith

James Bowie Kirk
Mary Smith
💍 1915/7048

Sydney Lawrence Robinson
Mary Smith
💍 1915/9413

Bachelor
Spinster

clerk
domestic duties

25
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

9535

21 December 1915

W. W. White Registrar

No	90
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bowie Kirk	Mary Smith
	💍 1915/7048
BDM Match (63%)	Sydney Lawrence Robinson	Mary Smith
	💍 1915/9413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clerk	domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	9535
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

22 December 1915

George Fairweather McAllister
Laura Rattray

Gerorge Fairweather McAllister
Laura Rattray
💍 1915/7045

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

35
34

Ashburton
Hampstead

3 days
34 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

9532

22 December 1915

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	91
Date of Notice	22 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Fairweather McAllister	Laura Rattray
BDM Match (98%)	Gerorge Fairweather McAllister	Laura Rattray
	💍 1915/7045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	3 days	34 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	9532
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

23 December 1915

Richard Arthur Grigg
Violet Eveline Jessep

Richard Arthur Grigg
Violet Eveline Jessep
💍 1915/7047

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

43
23

Alford Forest
Ashburton

3 days
2 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton

9534

23 December 1915

Rev. Geo. Miller

No	92
Date of Notice	23 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Arthur Grigg	Violet Eveline Jessep
	💍 1915/7047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	43	23
Dwelling Place	Alford Forest	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	9534
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller

28 December 1915

John Thomas Frew
Katie Fay

John Thomas Frew
Katie Pay
💍 1915/7046

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
dress-maker

25
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 months
3 days

At the dwelling of Rev. W. J. Elliott Ashburton

9533

28 December 1915

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	93
Date of Notice	28 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Frew	Katie Fay
BDM Match (94%)	John Thomas Frew	Katie Pay
	💍 1915/7046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	dress-maker
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Rev. W. J. Elliott Ashburton
Folio	9533
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).