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 2379

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

499

17 June 1915

Joseph Henry King
Gertrude Caroline Kobler

Joseph Henry King
Gertrude Caroline Kobler
💍 1915/9312

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Confectioner

28
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
5 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

2518

17 June 1915

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	499
Date of Notice	17 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry King	Gertrude Caroline Kobler
	💍 1915/9312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Confectioner
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	2518
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

500

17 June 1915

Fredrick Alfred Ganderton
Kathleen Fitzgerald

Fredrick Alfred Ganderton
Kathleen Fitzgerald
💍 1915/9483

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

35
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
7 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

2090

17 June 1915

Registrar

No	500
Date of Notice	17 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Alfred Ganderton	Kathleen Fitzgerald
	💍 1915/9483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	2090
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

501

17 June 1915

Herbert William Walker
Dinah Stamper Hewitt

Herbert William Walker
Dinah Stamper Hewitt
💍 1915/4139

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand

21
17

New Brighton
New Brighton

21 years
4 years

Anglican Church, New Brighton

6361

There is no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent.

3 July 1915

Rev. H. H. Mathias, Anglican

No	501
Date of Notice	17 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Walker	Dinah Stamper Hewitt
	💍 1915/4139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	21 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, New Brighton
Folio	6361
Consent	There is no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent.
Date of Certificate	3 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Mathias, Anglican

502

17 June 1915

Ernest Edgar Luttrell
Lucy Mary Fountaine

Ernest Edgar Luttrell
Lucy Mary Fountaine
💍 1915/4140

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

25
22

Riccarton
Riccarton

12 years
7 years

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

6362

17 June 1915

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	502
Date of Notice	17 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edgar Luttrell	Lucy Mary Fountaine
	💍 1915/4140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	6362
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

503

17 June 1915

Alfred Mumford
Elsie Anderina Williamson

Alfred Mumford
Elsie Anderina Williamson
💍 1915/4141

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Machinist

26
23

Sydenham
Sydenham

Life
7 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

6363

17 June 1915

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	503
Date of Notice	17 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Mumford	Elsie Anderina Williamson
	💍 1915/4141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Machinist
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	6363
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, 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).