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 2481

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

993

2 December 1915

Arthur Percy Seccombe
Mildred Wilson

Arthur Percy Seccombe
Mildred Wilson
💍 1915/7493

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

24
22

Otorohanga
St. Albans

4 months
11 months

St. Matthews Church Christchurch

10053

2 December 1915

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Rev. H. S. Locker, Anglican

No	993
Date of Notice	2 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Percy Seccombe	Mildred Wilson
	💍 1915/7493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	St. Albans
Length of Residence	4 months	11 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Christchurch
Folio	10053
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Rev. H. S. Locker, Anglican

995

2 December 1915

Albert Henry Adams
Alice May Martin

Albert Henry Adams
Alice May Martin
💍 1915/7166

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

24
21

Opawa
Oxford

7 years
3 days

Dwelling of Mr. H. Martin Bexley Oxford

9604

2 December 1915

Rev. J. Bain, Presbyterian

No	995
Date of Notice	2 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Adams	Alice May Martin
	💍 1915/7166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Oxford
Length of Residence	7 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. H. Martin Bexley Oxford
Folio	9604
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bain, Presbyterian

996

2 December 1915

George Major Scott
Mary Metcalf

George Major Scott
Mary Metcalf
💍 1915/5312

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Confectioner

21
22

Christchurch
St. Albans

4 years
2 years

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

7580

2 December 1915

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	996
Date of Notice	2 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Major Scott	Mary Metcalf
	💍 1915/5312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Confectioner
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	7580
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

997

2 December 1915

James William Stirling
Daisy Wilhelmina Nelson

James William Stirling
Daisy Wilhelmina Nelson
💍 1915/4856

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

26
27

Christchurch
St. Albans

6 months
27 years

Church of Christ Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch

7149

2 December 1915

Mr. R. Gebbie, Church of Christ

No	997
Date of Notice	2 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Stirling	Daisy Wilhelmina Nelson
	💍 1915/4856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	6 months	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	7149
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. R. Gebbie, Church of Christ

998

2 December 1915

Stanley William Ayers
Olive Vera Pugh

Stanley William Ayers
Olive Vera Pugh
💍 1916/8737

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

24
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
Life

Methodist Church East Belt Christchurch

472

2 December 1915

Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Methodist

No	998
Date of Notice	2 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley William Ayers	Olive Vera Pugh
	💍 1916/8737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church East Belt Christchurch
Folio	472
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Sinclair, 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).