Intentions to Marry, 1916 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840467, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 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.

1916e contains pages 1803-2396, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 1965

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar S. Tyson

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

16 November 1916

Patrick McGill
Mary Agnes Mason

Patrick McGill
Mary Agnes Mason
💍 1916/2719

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

33
22

Nelson
Nelson

1 year
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

16/7875

16 November 1916

Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	74
Date of Notice	16 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick McGill	Mary Agnes Mason
	💍 1916/2719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	16/7875
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

17 November 1916

Cyril Alexis Campbell
Pearl Mary Emms

Cyril Alexis Campbell
Pearl Mary Emms
💍 1916/2716

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Office
School-teacher

24
21

Nelson
Nelson

2 years
3 days

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

16/7872

17 November 1916

Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	75
Date of Notice	17 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Alexis Campbell	Pearl Mary Emms
	💍 1916/2716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Office	School-teacher
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	16/7872
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons, Roman Catholic

28 November 1916

Theodore Mardoc Ellis
Gladys Irene Holland

Theodore Mardoe Ellis
Gladys Irene Holland
💍 1916/2948

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Teller
Domestic duties

23
22

Nelson
Nelson

7 years
18 years

Bishopdale Chapel, Nelson

16/8152

28 November 1916

Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	76
Date of Notice	28 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Mardoc Ellis	Gladys Irene Holland
BDM Match (98%)	Theodore Mardoe Ellis	Gladys Irene Holland
	💍 1916/2948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Teller	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Bishopdale Chapel, Nelson
Folio	16/8152
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

1 December 1916

Arthur Ernest Brockett
Sylvia Margaret Fell

Arthur Ernest Brockett
Sylvia Margaret Fell
💍 1916/2722

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Mid-wife

30
28

Nelson
Nelson

6 years
28 years

Bishopdale Chapel, Nelson

16/7878

1 December 1916

Rev. Dr. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	77
Date of Notice	1 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Brockett	Sylvia Margaret Fell
	💍 1916/2722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Mid-wife
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Bishopdale Chapel, Nelson
Folio	16/7878
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

4 December 1916

Martin Patrick Wilkin
Myra Louisa Neal

Martin Patrick Wilkin
Myra Louisa Neal
💍 1916/2718

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

30
33

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
33 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson

16/7874

4 December 1916

Rev. W. Baumber, Wesleyan

No	78
Date of Notice	4 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Patrick Wilkin	Myra Louisa Neal
	💍 1916/2718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	16/7874
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Wesleyan

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).