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 2293

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1915

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

28 January 1915

Louis Neil Sonne
Gladys Mildred Mabel Bailey

Louis Neil Sonne
Gladys Mildred Mabel Bailey
💍 1915/7897

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

23
25

Templeton
Templeton

20 years
11 years

St Saviours Church Templeton

1619

28 January 1915

Rev. E. Webb, Anglican

No	71
Date of Notice	28 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Neil Sonne	Gladys Mildred Mabel Bailey
	💍 1915/7897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Templeton	Templeton
Length of Residence	20 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church Templeton
Folio	1619
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Webb, Anglican

28 January 1915

Peter Ewart
Edith Falla

Peter Ewart
Edith Faller
💍 1915/13378

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

27
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
7 years

House of Mrs G Falla 39 Alexandra St Richmond Christchurch

1620

28 January 1915

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	72
Date of Notice	28 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Ewart	Edith Falla
BDM Match (92%)	Peter Ewart	Edith Faller
	💍 1915/13378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs G Falla 39 Alexandra St Richmond Christchurch
Folio	1620
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

29 January 1915

James Joseph Flewellen
Edith Maud Mantell

James Joseph Flewellen
Edith Maud Mantell
💍 1915/12000

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Telephone Exchange Cadette

25
26

St Albans
Linwood

22 years
26 years

St Pauls Church Christchurch

708

29 January 1915

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	73
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Flewellen	Edith Maud Mantell
	💍 1915/12000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Telephone Exchange Cadette
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Linwood
Length of Residence	22 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church Christchurch
Folio	708
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

29 January 1915

William Lyall Harris
Rita Lucibel Mallard

William Lyall Harris
Rita Lucibel Mallard
💍 1915/376

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Clerk

20
18

Sydenham
Sydenham

4 years
Life

Registrars Office Christchurch

176

James Harris, Father (groom); John Mallard, Father (bride)

29 January 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	74
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lyall Harris	Rita Lucibel Mallard
	💍 1915/376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Clerk
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	176
Consent	James Harris, Father (groom); John Mallard, Father (bride)
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

29 January 1915

Henry John Whitebeck
Doris Catherine Tasma Monro

Henry John White Beck
Doris Catherine Fasma Monro
💍 1915/7910

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

37
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
Life

St Johns Church Christchurch

1608

29 January 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	75
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Whitebeck	Doris Catherine Tasma Monro
BDM Match (93%)	Henry John White Beck	Doris Catherine Fasma Monro
	💍 1915/7910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Christchurch
Folio	1608
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

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).