Intentions to Marry, 1915 Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840462, 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.

1915f contains pages 2619-3266, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Page 2659

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar Alex Montgomery

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

28 April 1915

Charles Alfred Bowring
Nellie Warner

Charles Alfred Bowring
Nellie Warner
💍 1915/2201

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

32 years
32 years

Timaru
Timaru

8 days
32 years

Kensington English Church Timaru

4056

28 April 1915

Archdeacon Jacob Church of England Clergyman

No	63
Date of Notice	28 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Bowring	Nellie Warner
	💍 1915/2201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	32 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	8 days	32 years
Marriage Place	Kensington English Church Timaru
Folio	4056
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Jacob Church of England Clergyman

30 April 1915

John Harvey
Lyla Cymboline Hill

John Harvey
Lyla Symboline Hill
💍 1915/2202

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Dressmaker

36 years
20 years

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
20 years

Dwellinghouse of H. J. Hill Corner North & Cain St Timaru

4057

Henry James Hill (Father)

30 April 1915

Rev. R. J. Liddell Methodist Minister

No	64
Date of Notice	30 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harvey	Lyla Cymboline Hill
BDM Match (97%)	John Harvey	Lyla Symboline Hill
	💍 1915/2202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Dressmaker
Age	36 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of H. J. Hill Corner North & Cain St Timaru
Folio	4057
Consent	Henry James Hill (Father)
Date of Certificate	30 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell Methodist Minister

1 May 1915

Hercules Paul Moyle
Ethel Amy Davison

Hercules Paul Mayle
Ethel Amy Davison
💍 1915/2194

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28 years
24 years

Lyalldale
Southburn

6 years
24 years

Trinity Church Timaru

4055

1 May 1915

Rev. J. Stinson Presbyterian Minister

No	65
Date of Notice	1 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hercules Paul Moyle	Ethel Amy Davison
BDM Match (97%)	Hercules Paul Mayle	Ethel Amy Davison
	💍 1915/2194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Lyalldale	Southburn
Length of Residence	6 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church Timaru
Folio	4055
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Stinson Presbyterian Minister

3 May 1915

Hadrian Gorst Gravis
Mary Moara

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

36 years
31 years

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
31 years

Catholic Church Timaru

4049

3 May 1915

Rev. M. A. Murphy Roman Catholic Priest

No	66
Date of Notice	3 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hadrian Gorst Gravis	Mary Moara
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	36 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Timaru
Folio	4049
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Murphy Roman Catholic Priest

4 May 1915

William Brew
Mary Ellen Hall

William Brien
Mary Ellen Hall
💍 1915/11590

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

35 years
34 years

Kerrytown
Kerrytown

10 years
5 years

Registrar's Office Timaru

4054

4 May 1915

Alex Montgomery Registrar

No	67
Date of Notice	4 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brew	Mary Ellen Hall
BDM Match (92%)	William Brien	Mary Ellen Hall
	💍 1915/11590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	35 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Kerrytown	Kerrytown
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Timaru
Folio	4054
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Alex Montgomery Registrar

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).