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 2179

District of Waimea South Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Eliab Baigent

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

6 July 1915

Peter Stevens McLaren
Gertrude Annie Win

Peter Stevens McLaren
Gertrude Annie Win
💍 1915/3836

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic duties

24
24

Thorpe
Thorpe

4 days
20 years

Methodist Church, Wakefield

15/6053

6 July 1915

Charles A. Foston, Methodist Church

No	14
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Stevens McLaren	Gertrude Annie Win
	💍 1915/3836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Thorpe	Thorpe
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Wakefield
Folio	15/6053
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Charles A. Foston, Methodist Church

10 July 1915

Frederick Nelson Entwhistle Turner
Beatrice Maud Palmer

Frederick Nelson Entwhistel Turner
Beatrice Maud Palmer
💍 1915/3798

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

21
23

Brightwater
Brightwater

3 days
23 years

Residence of George W. Palmer, Brightwater

15/6039

10 July 1915

James L. Tymons, Roman Catholic Priest

No	15
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Nelson Entwhistle Turner	Beatrice Maud Palmer
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Nelson Entwhistel Turner	Beatrice Maud Palmer
	💍 1915/3798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Brightwater	Brightwater
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George W. Palmer, Brightwater
Folio	15/6039
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	James L. Tymons, Roman Catholic Priest

13 July 1915

William Thomas Tyrrell
Mabel Constance Kelling

William Thomas Tyrrell
Mabel Constance Kelling
💍 1915/3837

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
29

Wakefield
Wakefield

3 days
3 days

St John's Church, Wakefield

15/6054

13 July 1915

John R. Dart, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Tyrrell	Mabel Constance Kelling
	💍 1915/3837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	29
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wakefield
Folio	15/6054
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	John R. Dart, Church of England

16 July 1915

Henry William Douglas Harman
Hazel Harriet Schroder

Henry William Douglas Harman
Hazel Harriet Schroder
💍 1915/1082

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
21

Wakefield
Wakefield

22 years
16 years

Residence of Carl Schroder, Wakefield

15/8307

16 July 1915

Ven Archdeacon Wm G. Baker, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	16 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Douglas Harman	Hazel Harriet Schroder
	💍 1915/1082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	22 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Carl Schroder, Wakefield
Folio	15/8307
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Wm G. Baker, Church of England

26 July 1915

Bernard Charles Alton McCabe
Mabel Callcott Western

Bernard Charles Alton McCabe
Mabel Callcott Western
💍 1915/3840

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
School Teacher

22
23

Belgrove
Belgrove

3 days
3 years

Residence of Albert Western, Belgrove

15/6057

26 July 1915

H. B. W. White, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	26 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Charles Alton McCabe	Mabel Callcott Western
	💍 1915/3840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	School Teacher
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Belgrove	Belgrove
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Albert Western, Belgrove
Folio	15/6057
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1915
Officiating Minister	H. B. W. White, Church of England

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).