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 2555

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar Alfred Ernest Reynolds

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

14 January 1915

William Fenton
Zelma Ethel May Rogers

William Fenton
Selma Ethel May Rogers
💍 1915/12091

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
19

Lyttelton
Sumner

6 months
3 months

In the residence of Mr William Chris Fenton Snr 45 Grafton St. Sumner

1646

Henry Charles Rogers father

14 January 1915

Revd Thomas McDonald

No	1
Date of Notice	14 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fenton	Zelma Ethel May Rogers
BDM Match (98%)	William Fenton	Selma Ethel May Rogers
	💍 1915/12091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Sumner
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr William Chris Fenton Snr 45 Grafton St. Sumner
Folio	1646
Consent	Henry Charles Rogers father
Date of Certificate	14 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Revd Thomas McDonald

8 February 1915

James William Day
Flossie Irene Harper

James William Day
Flossie Irene Harper
💍 1915/9088

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

6 years
23 years

In the residence of Walter Harper Cornwall Road Lyttelton

1341

8 February 1915

Revd Arthur Mitchell

No	2
Date of Notice	8 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Day	Flossie Irene Harper
	💍 1915/9088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Walter Harper Cornwall Road Lyttelton
Folio	1341
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Revd Arthur Mitchell

11 February 1915

Andrew Thomas Dowell
Eliza Jane Henderson

Andrew Thomas Dowell
Eliza Jane Henderson
💍 1915/9087

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

37
31

Purau
Purau

5 years
30 years

In Godley House Diamond Harbour

1340

11 February 1915

Revd John J Bates

No	3
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Thomas Dowell	Eliza Jane Henderson
	💍 1915/9087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	37	31
Dwelling Place	Purau	Purau
Length of Residence	5 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In Godley House Diamond Harbour
Folio	1340
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Revd John J Bates

19 February 1915

Victor George Geary
Marie Louise Crowley

Victor George Geary
Marie Louise Crowley
💍 1915/9086

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

21
22

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

2 months
1 month

In the Roman Catholic Church Lyttelton

1339

19 February 1915

Revd Patrick Cooney

No	4
Date of Notice	19 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor George Geary	Marie Louise Crowley
	💍 1915/9086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	2 months	1 month
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Lyttelton
Folio	1339
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Revd Patrick Cooney

3 March 1915

William Donnelly
Edith May Comfort

William Donnelly
Edith May Comfort
💍 1915/13490

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Drapers Assistant

28
20

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

5 years
2 years

In Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton

1784

William Isaac Comfort Father

3 March 1915

Revd J. R. Hewland

No	5
Date of Notice	3 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Donnelly	Edith May Comfort
	💍 1915/13490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Drapers Assistant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton
Folio	1784
Consent	William Isaac Comfort Father
Date of Certificate	3 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Revd J. R. Hewland

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).