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 2373

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

469

8 June 1915

Albert Thomas Charles Hulston
Estella Marion Metcalfe

Albert Thomas Charles Hulston
Estella Marion Metcalfe
💍 1915/545

Divorced Decree Absolute June 5 1915
Spinster

Retired Draper
Milliner

54
26

St. Albans
St. Albans

2 months
2 months

Residence of Rev. P. N. Knight Chester St. Christchurch

2621

8 June 1915

Rev. P. N. Knight Methodist

No	469
Date of Notice	8 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thomas Charles Hulston	Estella Marion Metcalfe
	💍 1915/545
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute June 5 1915	Spinster
Profession	Retired Draper	Milliner
Age	54	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. P. N. Knight Chester St. Christchurch
Folio	2621
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight Methodist

470

9 June 1915

Joseph James Bowman
Elsie Kathleen Agnes Foster

Joseph James Bowman
Elsie Kathleen Agnes Foster
💍 1915/546

Bachelor
Spinster

Working Jeweller
Dressmaker

22
21

St. Albans
St. Albans

3 years
7 years

Methodist Parsonage 54 Chester Street Christchurch

2622

9 June 1915

Rev. P. N. Knight Methodist

No	470
Date of Notice	9 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph James Bowman	Elsie Kathleen Agnes Foster
	💍 1915/546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Working Jeweller	Dressmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage 54 Chester Street Christchurch
Folio	2622
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight Methodist

471

9 June 1915

Thomas George Hillier
Sarah Jane Savage

Thomas George Hillier
Sarah Jane Savage
💍 1915/13950

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer

37
40

Christchurch
Christchurch

About 9 years
About 10 years

Residence of Mr. T. G. Hillier 282 Worcester Street Christchurch

2573

9 June 1915

Rev. W. A. Sinclair Methodist

No	471
Date of Notice	9 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George Hillier	Sarah Jane Savage
	💍 1915/13950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer
Age	37	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	About 9 years	About 10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. G. Hillier 282 Worcester Street Christchurch
Folio	2573
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Sinclair Methodist

472

9 June 1915

Robert Andrew Syme
Elsie Violet Liggins

Robert Andrew Syme
Elsie Violet Liggins
💍 1915/588

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

24
24

Christchurch
Burwood

24 years
15 years

All Saints Church Burwood

2690

9 June 1915

Rev. C. Tobin Anglican

No	472
Date of Notice	9 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Andrew Syme	Elsie Violet Liggins
	💍 1915/588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Burwood
Length of Residence	24 years	15 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Burwood
Folio	2690
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Tobin Anglican

473

9 June 1915

Charles John de la Cour
Marion Russell

Charles John de la Cour
Marion Russell
💍 1915/589

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
Dressmaker

26
25

Shirley
Linwood

7 days
7 days At Linwood

Residence of Mr. C. B. Russell 416 Worcester St. Linwood

2691

9 June 1915

Rev. C. E. Ward Methodist

No	473
Date of Notice	9 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John de la Cour	Marion Russell
	💍 1915/589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Shirley	Linwood
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days At Linwood
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. B. Russell 416 Worcester St. Linwood
Folio	2691
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward 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).