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 2128

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar Samuel Tyson

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

27 April 1915

Charles Alfred Pascoe
Henrietta Olive Heyward

Charles Alfred Pascoe
Henrietta Olive Heyward
💍 1915/2044

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Dressmaker

28
26

Nelson
Nelson

3 Days
3 Days

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

15/3902

27 April 1915

Rev. J. H. MacKenzie

No	34
Date of Notice	27 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Pascoe	Henrietta Olive Heyward
	💍 1915/2044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Dressmaker
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	15/3902
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. MacKenzie

3 May 1915

Charles Henry Newton Godsiff
Myrtle Amy Robb

Charles Henry Newton Godsiff
Myrtle Amy Robb
💍 1915/2051

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

24
24

Nelson
Nelson

3 Days
23 Years

Congregational Church, Nelson

15/3903

3 May 1915

Rev. T. G. Butler

No	35
Date of Notice	3 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Newton Godsiff	Myrtle Amy Robb
	💍 1915/2051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Days	23 Years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Nelson
Folio	15/3903
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. G. Butler

5 May 1915

Clarence Oliver Cross
Florence Minnie Manson

Clarence Oliver Cross
Florence Minnie Manson
💍 1915/2052

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocers Assistant

27
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 Days
3 Days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

15/3904

5 May 1915

Samuel Tyson Registrar of Marriages

No	36
Date of Notice	5 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Oliver Cross	Florence Minnie Manson
	💍 1915/2052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	15/3904
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Samuel Tyson Registrar of Marriages

10 May 1915

Cyril William Burns
Lily Elsie Hargreaves

Cyril William Burns
Lily Elsie Hargreaves
💍 1915/2014

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
18

Nelson
Nelson

3 Years
18 Years

The Residence of William Joseph Hargreaves, Waimea Street, Nelson

15/3890

William Joseph Hargreaves, Guardian

10 May 1915

Rev. T. G. Butler

No	37
Date of Notice	10 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril William Burns	Lily Elsie Hargreaves
	💍 1915/2014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 Years	18 Years
Marriage Place	The Residence of William Joseph Hargreaves, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	15/3890
Consent	William Joseph Hargreaves, Guardian
Date of Certificate	10 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. G. Butler

18 May 1915

Cyril Ernest Mitchell Bridger
Kathleen Blanch Hoult

Cyril Ernest Mitchell Bridger
Kathleen Blanche Hoult
💍 1915/719

Bachelor
Spinster

Trooper
Shop Assistant

21
20

Nelson
Nelson

4 Days
6 Months

Saint Marys Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

15/2631

Edward Samuel Hoult, Father

18 May 1915

Rev. J. Symons

No	38
Date of Notice	18 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Ernest Mitchell Bridger	Kathleen Blanch Hoult
BDM Match (98%)	Cyril Ernest Mitchell Bridger	Kathleen Blanche Hoult
	💍 1915/719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trooper	Shop Assistant
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 Days	6 Months
Marriage Place	Saint Marys Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	15/2631
Consent	Edward Samuel Hoult, Father
Date of Certificate	18 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Symons

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).