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 2075

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar W. W. White

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

7 January 1916

Harold John Saville
Isabella Walker

Harold John Saville
Isabella Walker
💍 1916/4061

Bachelor
Spinster

driver
domestic duties

30
38

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
14 days

at the dwelling of Arthur Eagon Mitchammore

1213

7 January 1916

Rev. W. C. Blair

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold John Saville	Isabella Walker
	💍 1916/4061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	driver	domestic duties
Age	30	38
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Arthur Eagon Mitchammore
Folio	1213
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair

7 January 1916

Herbert James Lucas Christie
Elsie Florence Annie Watson

Herbert James Lucas Christie
Elsie Florence Annie Watson
💍 1916/4060

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

30
25

Lowcliffe
Willowby

4 years
19 years

Methodist Church Willowby

1212

7 January 1916

Rev. W. J. Oxbrow

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Lucas Christie	Elsie Florence Annie Watson
	💍 1916/4060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Willowby
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Willowby
Folio	1212
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Oxbrow

14 January 1916

William John Sampson
Lillian Annie Dunning

William John Sampson
Lilian Annie Dunning
💍 1916/4059

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
domestic duties

20
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 months
3 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

1211

Thomas Sampson father of minor

14 January 1916

W. W. White Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	14 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Sampson	Lillian Annie Dunning
BDM Match (98%)	William John Sampson	Lilian Annie Dunning
	💍 1916/4059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	domestic duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	1211
Consent	Thomas Sampson father of minor
Date of Certificate	14 January 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

18 January 1916

George Edward Cassidy
Blanche Ellen Ellery

George Edward Cassidy
Blanche Ellen Ellery
💍 1916/4058

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

23
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
2 months

Baring Square Church Ashburton

1210

18 January 1916

Rev. W. J. Elliott

No	4
Date of Notice	18 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Cassidy	Blanche Ellen Ellery
	💍 1916/4058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	1210
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Elliott

7 February 1916

Gilbert Quaillie
Agnes Mary Roland

Gilbert Smaillie
Agnes Mary Roland
💍 1916/4079

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
domestic duties

46
32

Chertsey
Chertsey

2 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

1207

7 February 1916

W. W. White Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	7 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Quaillie	Agnes Mary Roland
BDM Match (94%)	Gilbert Smaillie	Agnes Mary Roland
	💍 1916/4079
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	46	32
Dwelling Place	Chertsey	Chertsey
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	1207
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White 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).