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 2003

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar C. O. 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

24 May 1915

Alexander Gard Mowat
Cecilia France Hall

Alexander Gard Mowat
Cecilia France Hall
💍 1915/1968

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
31

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 days
2 months

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

15/3842

24 May 1915

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

No	26
Date of Notice	24 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Gard Mowat	Cecilia France Hall
	💍 1915/1968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	15/3842
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

27 May 1915

Charles Henry Trevor Hill
Ethel Annie Alexander

not sold. see attached

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse driver
Domestic

20
22

Blenheim
Blenheim

20 years
14 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

Charles Benjamin Hill, Father

27 May 1915

Mr. C. O. Brownson, Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	27 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Trevor Hill	Ethel Annie Alexander
	💍 not sold. see attached
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse driver	Domestic
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	20 years	14 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio
Consent	Charles Benjamin Hill, Father
Date of Certificate	27 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. O. Brownson, Registrar

29 May 1915

Percy Montague Hillman
Geraldine Gladys Dodson

Percy Montague Hillman
Geraldine Gladys Dodson
💍 1915/1967

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Domestic

21
20

Blenheim
Spring Creek

21 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs. G. L. Dodson, Spring Creek

15/3841

George Lewis Dodson, Father

31 May 1915

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	29 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Montague Hillman	Geraldine Gladys Dodson
	💍 1915/1967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. G. L. Dodson, Spring Creek
Folio	15/3841
Consent	George Lewis Dodson, Father
Date of Certificate	31 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

1 June 1915

Charles Mildmay Bothamley
Dorothy Eunice Adelaide McKay

Charles Wildmay Bothamley
Dorothy Eunice Adelaide McKay
💍 1915/11194

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

23
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

15/3837

1 June 1915

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	1 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Mildmay Bothamley	Dorothy Eunice Adelaide McKay
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Wildmay Bothamley	Dorothy Eunice Adelaide McKay
	💍 1915/11194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	15/3837
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

1 June 1915

Robert Walker
Dorothea Scrint

Robert Walker
Dorothea Scrint
💍 1915/11214

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

34
18

Ward
Ward

12 years
7 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

15/3833

Catherine Scrint, mother

1 June 1915

Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	1 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Walker	Dorothea Scrint
	💍 1915/11214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	34	18
Dwelling Place	Ward	Ward
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	15/3833
Consent	Catherine Scrint, mother
Date of Certificate	1 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

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).