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 2011

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar J. G. Brownson

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

1 October 1915

Richard Clark
Maggie Howie McLeod

Richard Clark
Maggie Howie McLeod
💍 1915/4928

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Hosiery worker

32
26

Blenheim
Petone

10 months
22 months

Presbyterian Church, Petone

15/7171

1 October 1915

Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	1 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Clark	Maggie Howie McLeod
	💍 1915/4928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Hosiery worker
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Petone
Length of Residence	10 months	22 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Petone
Folio	15/7171
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd, Presbyterian

5 October 1915

John Henry Cheesman
Jessie Camebury Tombs

John Henry Cheesman
Jessie Camebury Tombs
💍 1915/6953

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
24

Grovetown
Spring Creek

26 years
24 years

St. Luke's Church, Spring Creek

15/9388

5 October 1915

Ven. Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	5 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Cheesman	Jessie Camebury Tombs
	💍 1915/6953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Spring Creek
Folio	15/9388
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

7 October 1915

Wilfred Roy Gifford
Emma Adelaide Shennen

Wilfred Roy Gifford
Emma Adelaide Shennen
💍 1915/6966

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

19
22

Spring Creek
Blenheim

19 years
2 years

Presbyterian Manse, Springlands

15/9400

Robert Gifford, Father

7 October 1915

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	7 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Roy Gifford	Emma Adelaide Shennen
	💍 1915/6966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Blenheim
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Springlands
Folio	15/9400
Consent	Robert Gifford, Father
Date of Certificate	7 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

9 October 1915

Gilbert Thomas Gardiner
Rose Hannah Tombs

Gilbert Thomas Gardiner
Rose Hannah Tombs
💍 1915/6976

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

29
31

Spring Creek
Spring Creek

29 years
31 years

St. Luke's Church, Spring Creek

15/9387

9 October 1915

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	9 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Thomas Gardiner	Rose Hannah Tombs
	💍 1915/6976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	29 years	31 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Spring Creek
Folio	15/9387
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

18 October 1915

Albert Robinson
Florence Mary Isabella Hindley
formerly Donald

Albert Robinson
Florence Mary Isabella Hurdley
💍 1915/6960

Widower
Widow

Wood dealer
Housekeeper

39
38

Tua Marina
Tua Marina

39 years
5 years

Mr A. Robinson's Residence, Tua Marina

15/9395

18 October 1915

Rev. T. R. B. Woolloxall, Methodist

No	53
Date of Notice	18 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Robinson	Florence Mary Isabella Hindley formerly Donald
BDM Match (97%)	Albert Robinson	Florence Mary Isabella Hurdley
	💍 1915/6960
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Wood dealer	Housekeeper
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Tua Marina	Tua Marina
Length of Residence	39 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Mr A. Robinson's Residence, Tua Marina
Folio	15/9395
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. B. Woolloxall, Methodist

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).