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 2111

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

101

10 February 1916

Arthur Nalder Smith
Frances Charlotte Hannibal

Arthur Walter Smith
Frances Charlotte Hannibal
💍 1916/4156

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk (now Soldier)
Typiste

23
25

Featherston
St. Albans

2 months
7 years

St. Paul's Church, Papanui

1461

10 February 1916

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	101
Date of Notice	10 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Nalder Smith	Frances Charlotte Hannibal
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Walter Smith	Frances Charlotte Hannibal
	💍 1916/4156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk (now Soldier)	Typiste
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Featherston	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 months	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	1461
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

102

10 February 1916

Harold Arthur
Harriet Stella Percival

Harold Ardern
Harriet Stella Percival
💍 1916/4671

Bachelor
Spinster

Brushmaker
Dressmaker

29
26

Sydenham
Sydenham

6 months
9 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

1952

10 February 1916

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	102
Date of Notice	10 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Arthur	Harriet Stella Percival
BDM Match (85%)	Harold Ardern	Harriet Stella Percival
	💍 1916/4671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brushmaker	Dressmaker
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	6 months	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	1952
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

103

11 February 1916

Arthur Macdonald
Alice Maud Priest

Arthur Macdonald
Alice Maud Priest
💍 1916/4672

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Musician

26
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes St., Christchurch

1953

11 February 1916

Rev. J. C. Murphy, R.C.

No	103
Date of Notice	11 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Macdonald	Alice Maud Priest
	💍 1916/4672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Musician
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes St., Christchurch
Folio	1953
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Murphy, R.C.

104

12 February 1916

Arthur Russell Whewell
Ethel May Cornelius

Arthur Russell Whewell
Ethel May Cornelius
💍 1916/438

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder

32
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1005

12 February 1916

Registrar

No	104
Date of Notice	12 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Russell Whewell	Ethel May Cornelius
	💍 1916/438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1005
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

105

12 February 1916

Ernest Thomas Fagan
Alice Delamere

Ernest Thomas Fagan
Alice Delamere
💍 1916/4673

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

28
26

St. Albans
St. Albans

1 day
3 years

St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans, Christchurch

1954

12 February 1916

Rev. A. Hare, Anglican

No	105
Date of Notice	12 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Thomas Fagan	Alice Delamere
	💍 1916/4673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	1 day	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans, Christchurch
Folio	1954
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hare, Anglican

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).