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 2093

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1916

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

5 January 1916

James Henry Newton Short
Alice Ditchfield

James Henry Neuton Short
Alice Ditchfield
💍 1916/4584

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
-

27
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
2 years

Anglican Church Burwood

1890

5 January 1916

Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	5 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Newton Short	Alice Ditchfield
BDM Match (98%)	James Henry Neuton Short	Alice Ditchfield
	💍 1916/4584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	-
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Burwood
Folio	1890
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

6 January 1916

Ernest Pither
Mary Matilda Treleaven

Ernest Pither
Mary Matilda Treleaven
💍 1916/4585

Widower 30-1-1908
Spinster

Motor-driver
Clerk

33
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
15 years

St. Martin's Church Opawa

1891

6 January 1916

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	6 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Pither	Mary Matilda Treleaven
	💍 1916/4585
Condition	Widower 30-1-1908	Spinster
Profession	Motor-driver	Clerk
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Martin's Church Opawa
Folio	1891
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

6 January 1916

Frederick William Ross
Helen Jane Pratt

Frederick William Ross
Helen Jane Pratt
💍 1916/4586

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Waitress

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days
3 years

St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch

1892

6 January 1916

Rev. R. J. Hoare, R. C.

No	13
Date of Notice	6 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Ross	Helen Jane Pratt
	💍 1916/4586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Waitress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch
Folio	1892
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare, R. C.

6 January 1916

Patrick Brooks
Gladys Alice Humm

Patrick Brooks
Gladys Alice Humm
💍 1916/4587

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Retoucher

26
21

St. Albans
St. Albans

2 weeks
5 years

St. Matthew's Church St. Albans

1893

6 January 1916

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	6 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Brooks	Gladys Alice Humm
	💍 1916/4587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Retoucher
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church St. Albans
Folio	1893
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

7 January 1916

Robert Lockhead
Sarah Louisa Ure

Robert Lochhead
Sarah Louisa Ure
💍 1916/4589

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Medical Practitioner

48
36

Christchurch
Christchurch (arrived from Brisbane Jan 5.)

3 days
2 days

St. David's Church Colombo St. Christchurch

1894

7 January 1916

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	7 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lockhead	Sarah Louisa Ure
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Lochhead	Sarah Louisa Ure
	💍 1916/4589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Medical Practitioner
Age	48	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch (arrived from Brisbane Jan 5.)
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	St. David's Church Colombo St. Christchurch
Folio	1894
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

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).