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 2463

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

904

8 November 1915

Robert Forrester Thomson
Agnes Moore

Robert Forrester Thomson
Agnes Moore
💍 1915/5791

Widower, 20 February 1913
Spinster

Storekeeper
Dressmaker

39
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

8136

8 November 1915

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	904
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Forrester Thomson	Agnes Moore
	💍 1915/5791
Condition	Widower, 20 February 1913	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Dressmaker
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	8136
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

905

8 November 1915

Charles Manson Blatchford
Elizabeth Manson

Charles Manson Blatchford
Elizabeth Manson
💍 1915/5792

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer

35
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
1 week

Dwelling of Mrs Howie, 201 Linwood Avenue, Linwood

8137

8 November 1915

Rev. J. Johnston, Presbyterian

No	905
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Manson Blatchford	Elizabeth Manson
	💍 1915/5792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Howie, 201 Linwood Avenue, Linwood
Folio	8137
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Johnston, Presbyterian

906

8 November 1915

Edward Albert O'Brien
Ellis Dooling

Edward Albert O'Brien
Ellie Dooling
💍 1915/5793

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman

33
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

8138

8 November 1915

Rev. J. Hickson, Roman Catholic

No	906
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Albert O'Brien	Ellis Dooling
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Albert O'Brien	Ellie Dooling
	💍 1915/5793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	8138
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hickson, Roman Catholic

907

8 November 1915

Frederick Charles Carter
Philomena Perkins

Frederick Charles Carter
Philomena Perkins
💍 1915/5794

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastrycook
Waitress

24
19

St. Albans
St. Albans

9 months
Life

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

8139

Samuel Joseph Perkins, Father

8 November 1915

Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	907
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Carter	Philomena Perkins
	💍 1915/5794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastrycook	Waitress
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	9 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	8139
Consent	Samuel Joseph Perkins, Father
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

908

8 November 1915

Groves Reveley Meikle
Jane Agnes Wren

Groves Reveley Meikle
Jane Agnes Wren
💍 1915/5816

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredging Master

39
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
6 weeks

Dwelling of Mr W. Wren, 8 Montreal Street, Sydenham

8173

8 November 1915

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	908
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Groves Reveley Meikle	Jane Agnes Wren
	💍 1915/5816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredging Master
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr W. Wren, 8 Montreal Street, Sydenham
Folio	8173
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).