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 2295

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

1 February 1915

John Brown
Mary Leo Black

John Brown
Mary Lees Black
💍 1915/7900

Widower 20.11.1913
Spinster

64
42

Shirley
Sydenham

1 year
11 years

St. David's Church, Sydenham

1621

1 February 1915

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown	Mary Leo Black
BDM Match (93%)	John Brown	Mary Lees Black
	💍 1915/7900
Condition	Widower 20.11.1913	Spinster
Profession
Age	64	42
Dwelling Place	Shirley	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 year	11 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Sydenham
Folio	1621
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

1 February 1915

Edward Joseph Rodgers
Sylvia Rubina Murfitt

Edward Joseph Rodgers
Sylvia Rubina Murfitt
💍 1915/7865

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter N.Z. Railways
Milliner

25
24

Washdyke
Christchurch

15 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

1562

1 February 1915

Rev. J. C. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	82
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Joseph Rodgers	Sylvia Rubina Murfitt
	💍 1915/7865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter N.Z. Railways	Milliner
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Washdyke	Christchurch
Length of Residence		15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	1562
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Murphy, Roman Catholic

1 February 1915

James Wyse Stewart
Eva Thurza Maria Bailey

James Wyse Stewart
Eva Thurza Maud Bailey
💍 1915/7895

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

20
21

Templeton
Templeton

Life
11 years

St. Saviour's Church, Templeton

1617

Margaret Calder Stewart, mother

1 February 1915

Rev. E. Webb, Anglican

No	83
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wyse Stewart	Eva Thurza Maria Bailey
BDM Match (94%)	James Wyse Stewart	Eva Thurza Maud Bailey
	💍 1915/7895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Templeton	Templeton
Length of Residence	Life	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Templeton
Folio	1617
Consent	Margaret Calder Stewart, mother
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Webb, Anglican

1 February 1915

Henry James Beswick
Gladys Frances Hodges

Henry James Beswick
Gladys Frances Hodges
💍 1915/9231

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolclasser

34
21

Woolston
Hornby

5 years
3 weeks

House of Mr. W. Overend, 17 Havelock Street, Linwood

1587

1 February 1915

Rev. T. A. Jollie, Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Beswick	Gladys Frances Hodges
	💍 1915/9231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolclasser
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Hornby
Length of Residence	5 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Mr. W. Overend, 17 Havelock Street, Linwood
Folio	1587
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Jollie, Presbyterian

2 February 1915

Ernest Charles Sorrell
Ethel Maud Pepper

Ernest Charles Sorrell
Ethel Maud Pepper
💍 1915/9253

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

25
29

Linwood
Linwood

5 months
3 days

Methodist Church, Olliviers Road, Christchurch

1626

2 February 1915

Rev. C. Strand, Methodist

No	85
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Charles Sorrell	Ethel Maud Pepper
	💍 1915/9253
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	5 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Olliviers Road, Christchurch
Folio	1626
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Strand, 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).