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 2493

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

1054

20 December 1915

William Frederick Bensley
Mabel Beresford Calder

William Fredrick Binsley
Mabel Beresford Calder
💍 1915/5844

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

27
29

Linwood
Papanui

7 months
12 years

Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

8215

20 December 1915

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	1054
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Bensley	Mabel Beresford Calder
BDM Match (96%)	William Fredrick Binsley	Mabel Beresford Calder
	💍 1915/5844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Papanui
Length of Residence	7 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	8215
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

1055

20 December 1915

Thomas Armitage Stanley
Florence Hilda Lancaster

Thomas Armitage Stanley
Florence Hilda Lancaster
💍 1915/5867

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Telephone Assistant

30
28

Fendalton
Papanui

5 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Papanui

8214

20 December 1915

Rev. H.E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	1055
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Armitage Stanley	Florence Hilda Lancaster
	💍 1915/5867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Telephone Assistant
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Papanui
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Papanui
Folio	8214
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.E. Bellhouse, Methodist

1056

20 December 1915

Eric West England
Violet Ioline Francis

Eric West England
Violet Ioline Francis
💍 1915/5845

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
10 years

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

8216

20 December 1915

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	1056
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric West England	Violet Ioline Francis
	💍 1915/5845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	8216
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

1057

20 December 1915

John Campbell Alexander
Annie Isobel Hayman

John Campbell Alexander
Annie Isobel Hayman
💍 1915/5311

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

22
20

Christchurch
Kaiapoi

22 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch

7579

Consent already lodged with Registrar at Kaiapoi

20 December 1915

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	1057
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Campbell Alexander	Annie Isobel Hayman
	💍 1915/5311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch
Folio	7579
Consent	Consent already lodged with Registrar at Kaiapoi
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

1058

21 December 1915

Alfred Terry
Christina Brownlee

Alfred Terry
Christina Brownlees
💍 1915/5846

Bachelor
Spinster

Flourmill Hand

39
24

Sydenham
Sydenham

7 years
2 years

Dwelling of Mrs Bone, 22 Longfellow St., Sydenham

8217

21 December 1915

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	1058
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Terry	Christina Brownlee
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Terry	Christina Brownlees
	💍 1915/5846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flourmill Hand
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Bone, 22 Longfellow St., Sydenham
Folio	8217
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 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).