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 2395

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

571

12 July 1915

Herbert Clarkson White
Eleanor Claudia Westlake

Herbert Clarkson Alute
Eleanor Clarissa Uerllaks
💍 1915/4279

Bachelor
Spinster

Officer, Mercantile Marine

26
21

At Sea
Christchurch

11 years

Church of Good Shepherd Phillipstown

6403

12 July 1915

Rev. H. E. Ensor Anglican

No	571
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Clarkson White	Eleanor Claudia Westlake
BDM Match (77%)	Herbert Clarkson Alute	Eleanor Clarissa Uerllaks
	💍 1915/4279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Officer, Mercantile Marine
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	At Sea	Christchurch
Length of Residence		11 years
Marriage Place	Church of Good Shepherd Phillipstown
Folio	6403
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ensor Anglican

572

12 July 1915

Alfred John Hilbury Burt
Catherine Mackinnon

Alfred John Kelbury Burt
Catherine MacKinnon
💍 1915/5291

Widower March 26, 1914
Spinster

Fellmonger

44
35

Upper Riccarton
Riccarton

4 years
7 months

St. Mary's Presbytery Manchester St Christchurch

7583

12 July 1915

Rev. R. Hoare R.C.

No	572
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Hilbury Burt	Catherine Mackinnon
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred John Kelbury Burt	Catherine MacKinnon
	💍 1915/5291
Condition	Widower March 26, 1914	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Upper Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	4 years	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Presbytery Manchester St Christchurch
Folio	7583
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Hoare R.C.

573

13 July 1915

Isaac William Thompson
Rose Ellen Allsop

Isaac William Thompson
Rose Ellen Allsop
💍 1915/4282

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
39

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

St. Mary's Church Merivale

6406

13 July 1915

Rev. C. H. Gosset Anglican

No	573
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac William Thompson	Rose Ellen Allsop
	💍 1915/4282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	6406
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Gosset Anglican

574

13 July 1915

John Allen Golding
Violet Amelia Price

John Allen Golding
Violet Amelia Price
💍 1915/4280

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
21

Spreydon
Christchurch

6 years
13 years

St Luke's Church Christchurch

6404

13 July 1915

Rev. F. N. Taylor

No	574
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Allen Golding	Violet Amelia Price
	💍 1915/4280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	6404
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor

575

13 July 1915

Leonard Calvert
Louise Ellen Bowles

Leonard Calvert
Louise Ellen Bowles
💍 1915/4281

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver

32
34

Spreydon
Spreydon

4 years
3 years

Methodist Church Durham St Christchurch

6405

13 July 1915

Rev. P. Knight Methodist

No	575
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Calvert	Louise Ellen Bowles
	💍 1915/4281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St Christchurch
Folio	6405
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight 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).