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 2457

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

874

29 October 1915

Percy Carpenter Burns
Sarah Gladys Ivy Cox

Percy Carpenter Burns
Sarah Gladys Ivy Cox
💍 1915/5762

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Tailoress

25
20

Christchurch
Sydenham

3 years
Life

St. Saviour's Church Sydenham

8108

Joseph Alfred Cox, father

29 October 1915

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	874
Date of Notice	29 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Carpenter Burns	Sarah Gladys Ivy Cox
	💍 1915/5762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Tailoress
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	8108
Consent	Joseph Alfred Cox, father
Date of Certificate	29 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

875

30 October 1915

David William Porter
Florence Hilda Whitford

David William Porter
Florence Hilda Whitford
💍 1915/5763

Bachelor
Divorced Decree absolute 17.12.1910

Carpenter

35
32

Christchurch
Sydenham

3 days
2 years

Dwelling of Rev. A. N. Scotter Brougham St. Sydenham

8109

30 October 1915

Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	875
Date of Notice	30 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David William Porter	Florence Hilda Whitford
	💍 1915/5763
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree absolute 17.12.1910
Profession	Carpenter
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Rev. A. N. Scotter Brougham St. Sydenham
Folio	8109
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

876

30 October 1915

Frederick George Harris Morris Britten Burgess
Rhoda Ellen Wills

Frederick George Harris Morris Britten Burgess
Rhoda Ellen Wills
💍 1915/5765

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

35
22

Ashburton
Sydenham

5 1/2 years
7 days

Methodist Church Sydenham

8110

30 October 1915

Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	876
Date of Notice	30 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Harris Morris Britten Burgess	Rhoda Ellen Wills
	💍 1915/5765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Sydenham
Folio	8110
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

877

1 November 1915

Hector Charles Hamlin
Ethel Dunnage

Hector Charles Hamlin
Ethel Dumage
💍 1915/5766

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

26
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
Life

Holy Trinity Church Avonside

8111

1 November 1915

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	877
Date of Notice	1 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Charles Hamlin	Ethel Dunnage
BDM Match (92%)	Hector Charles Hamlin	Ethel Dumage
	💍 1915/5766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside
Folio	8111
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

878

1 November 1915

William Sidney Thomson Stanley
Vera Leonore Aldridge

William Sidney Thomson Stanley
Vera Leonora Aldridge
💍 1915/5767

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Bookkeeper

22
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
5 years

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

8112

Anne Leonore Aldridge, mother

1 November 1915

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	878
Date of Notice	1 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sidney Thomson Stanley	Vera Leonore Aldridge
BDM Match (98%)	William Sidney Thomson Stanley	Vera Leonora Aldridge
	💍 1915/5767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Bookkeeper
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	8112
Consent	Anne Leonore Aldridge, mother
Date of Certificate	1 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, 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).