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 2333

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

271

31 March 1915

Leonard Hill
Catherine Agnes Patrick

Leonard Hill
Catherine Agnes Patrick
💍 1915/561

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Milliner

33
25

Linwood
Sydenham

3 days
14 days

St Andrews Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

2663

31 March 1915

Rev. W. R. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	271
Date of Notice	31 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Hill	Catherine Agnes Patrick
	💍 1915/561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Milliner
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	2663
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Rodger, Presbyterian

272

31 March 1915

George Francis Goom
Agnes Henrietta Read

George Francis Goom
Agnes Henrietta Read
💍 1915/9317

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
2 weeks

St John's Church, Christchurch

2522

31 March 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	272
Date of Notice	31 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Francis Goom	Agnes Henrietta Read
	💍 1915/9317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	2522
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

273

31 March 1915

Herbert Leonard Willimore
Edith Julia Smith

Herbert Leonard Dillimore
Edith Julia Smith
💍 1915/7932

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
23

St Albans
St Albans

3 days
5 years

Methodist Church, Edgeware Road, St Albans

1705

31 March 1915

Rev. L. B. Neale, Methodist

No	273
Date of Notice	31 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Leonard Willimore	Edith Julia Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Leonard Dillimore	Edith Julia Smith
	💍 1915/7932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Edgeware Road, St Albans
Folio	1705
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. B. Neale, Methodist

274

31 March 1915

Bertie Heil
Alice Eliza Cornwell

Bertie Heil
Alice Eliza Cornwell
💍 1915/9316

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

26
27

Linwood
Linwood

4 months
3 years

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

2521

31 March 1915

Rev. O. Fitzgerald

No	274
Date of Notice	31 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Heil	Alice Eliza Cornwell
	💍 1915/9316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	4 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	2521
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald

275

31 March 1915

George Hugh McLean
Isabel Marion Sinclair

George Hugh McLeon
Isabel Marion Sinclair
💍 1915/10092

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Typiste

28
29

Cashmere
Addington

12 years
Life

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Christchurch

2625

31 March 1915

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	275
Date of Notice	31 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hugh McLean	Isabel Marion Sinclair
BDM Match (97%)	George Hugh McLeon	Isabel Marion Sinclair
	💍 1915/10092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Typiste
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Cashmere	Addington
Length of Residence	12 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Christchurch
Folio	2625
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

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).