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 2254

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 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

29 January 1915

Hugh McCallum MacLachlan
Ethel Mary Clarke

Hugh McCallum MacLachlan
Ethel May Clarke
💍 1915/9080

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Domestic duties

35
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

14 months
9 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

1308

29 January 1915

W. W. White Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McCallum MacLachlan	Ethel Mary Clarke
BDM Match (97%)	Hugh McCallum MacLachlan	Ethel May Clarke
	💍 1915/9080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic duties
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	14 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	1308
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

1 February 1915

Guyon Kenneth Macdonald
Marjorie Mabon Grigg

Guyon Kenneth Macdonald
Marjorie Mabyn Grigg
💍 1915/9067

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
22

Longbeach
Longbeach

3 days
22 years

Church of England Longbeach

1320

1 February 1915

Rev. H. B. Jones B.A.

No	7
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Guyon Kenneth Macdonald	Marjorie Mabon Grigg
BDM Match (98%)	Guyon Kenneth Macdonald	Marjorie Mabyn Grigg
	💍 1915/9067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Longbeach
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Longbeach
Folio	1320
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones B.A.

2 February 1915

Eldrick McRae Ede
Eva Marsden

Eldrick McRae Ede
Eva Marsden
💍 1915/9061

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
21

Hampstead
Hampstead

23 years
21 years

Wills Street Methodist Church Ashburton

1314

2 February 1915

Geo. B. Wrather

No	8
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eldrick McRae Ede	Eva Marsden
	💍 1915/9061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Hampstead
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Wills Street Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	1314
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Geo. B. Wrather

2 February 1915

James William Stewart
Martha Moblay

William James Stewart
Martha McClay
💍 1915/9063

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

34
30

Ealing
Ashburton

4 months
3 months

Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

1316

2 February 1915

Rev. George Miller

No	9
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Stewart	Martha Moblay
BDM Match (64%)	William James Stewart	Martha McClay
	💍 1915/9063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Ealing	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	1316
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller

5 February 1915

Sydney Beauvais
Constance Maud Jessop

Sydney Beauvais
Constance Maud Jessop
💍 1915/9066

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Milliner

28
27

Hampstead
Ashburton

8 years
15 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

1319

5 February 1915

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	10
Date of Notice	5 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Beauvais	Constance Maud Jessop
	💍 1915/9066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Milliner
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	1319
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 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).