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 2519

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar J. M. Graham

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

19/15

1 October 1915

Frank Hyle Orr
Barbara Washbourne

Frank Wylie Orr
Barbara Washbourne
💍 1915/7105

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

33
32

Waimakariri
Selwyn

9 years
18 months

Church of England Brookside

9567

1 October 1915

Rev P T Jones Leeston

No	19/15
Date of Notice	1 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hyle Orr	Barbara Washbourne
BDM Match (93%)	Frank Wylie Orr	Barbara Washbourne
	💍 1915/7105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Waimakariri	Selwyn
Length of Residence	9 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Brookside
Folio	9567
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev P T Jones Leeston

20/15

9 October 1915

James Howatson
Alice Eleanor Rickliffe

James Howatson
Alice Eleanor Wickcliffe
💍 1915/7103

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
27

Southbridge
Southbridge

28 years
27 years

Residence of Mr John Rickliffe Southbridge

9565

9 October 1915

Rev Geo Lindsay Southbridge

No	20/15
Date of Notice	9 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Howatson	Alice Eleanor Rickliffe
BDM Match (96%)	James Howatson	Alice Eleanor Wickcliffe
	💍 1915/7103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	28 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Rickliffe Southbridge
Folio	9565
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Lindsay Southbridge

21/15

15 October 1915

Joseph James McClelland
Caroline May Stephens

Joseph James McClelland
Caroline May Stephens
💍 1915/7099

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
30

Brookside
Brookside

3 years
30 years

Church of England Brookside

9562

15 October 1915

Rev P T Jones Leeston

No	21/15
Date of Notice	15 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph James McClelland	Caroline May Stephens
	💍 1915/7099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Brookside	Brookside
Length of Residence	3 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Brookside
Folio	9562
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev P T Jones Leeston

22/15

26 October 1915

David Montgomery
Mary Hannaford

David Montgomery
Mary Hannaford
💍 1915/7102

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
25

Doyleston
Sedgemere

4 years
25 years

Church of England Southbridge

9564

26 October 1915

Rev H G Hawkins Southbridge

No	22/15
Date of Notice	26 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Montgomery	Mary Hannaford
	💍 1915/7102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Sedgemere
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Southbridge
Folio	9564
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev H G Hawkins Southbridge

23/15

3 November 1915

David Graham Dick
Gladys Isabella Beatrice Clark

David Graham Dick
Gladys Isabella Beatrice Clarke
💍 1915/7056

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
27

Killinchy
Tinwald

11 years
27 years

office of The Registrar Ashburton

9542

3 November 1915

Registrar Ashburton

No	23/15
Date of Notice	3 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Graham Dick	Gladys Isabella Beatrice Clark
BDM Match (98%)	David Graham Dick	Gladys Isabella Beatrice Clarke
	💍 1915/7056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Tinwald
Length of Residence	11 years	27 years
Marriage Place	office of The Registrar Ashburton
Folio	9542
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar Ashburton

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).