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 2485

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

1014

7 December 1915

Benjamin White Campbell
Elsie Neale

Benjamin White Campbell
Elsie Neale
💍 1915/5919

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

26
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
7 months

St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans

8192

7 December 1915

Rev. D. Rankin, Anglican

No	1014
Date of Notice	7 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin White Campbell	Elsie Neale
	💍 1915/5919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans
Folio	8192
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Rankin, Anglican

1015

7 December 1915

Irving Pell Loasby
Ivy Taylor

Irvine Pell Loasby
Ivy Taylor
💍 1915/6355

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Dressmaker

32
23

Linwood
Christchurch

4 years
Life

Dwelling of Mrs Morrow, 412 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

8707

7 December 1915

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	1015
Date of Notice	7 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Irving Pell Loasby	Ivy Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	Irvine Pell Loasby	Ivy Taylor
	💍 1915/6355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Morrow, 412 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	8707
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

1016

8 December 1915

George Herbert Hanson
Elsie Margaret Rebecca Haines

George Herbert Hanson
Elsie Margaret Rebecca Haines
💍 1915/5301

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Saleswoman

31
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 weeks

St. Paul's Church, Papanui

7575

8 December 1915

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	1016
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Hanson	Elsie Margaret Rebecca Haines
	💍 1915/5301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Saleswoman
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	7575
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

1017

8 December 1915

James Cromie
Ada Alice Mead

James Cromie
Ada Alice Mead
💍 1915/6356

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch

8708

Arthur Albert Mead, father

8 December 1915

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	1017
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cromie	Ada Alice Mead
	💍 1915/6356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch
Folio	8708
Consent	Arthur Albert Mead, father
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

1018

8 December 1915

Harry Wellesley Vernall
Margaret Morrall Luxton

Harry Wellesley Vernall
Margaret Morrall Luxton
💍 1915/5920

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Music Teacher

24
30

St. Albans
St. Albans

5 years
4 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

8193

8 December 1915

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	1018
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Wellesley Vernall	Margaret Morrall Luxton
	💍 1915/5920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Music Teacher
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	8193
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, 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).