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 2115

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

116

16 February 1916

Basil Warring
Ethel Mary Agnes Delaney

Basil Warring
Ethel Mary Agnes Delaney
💍 1916/4658

Bachelor
Spinster

Customs Officer

24
24

Christchurch
New Brighton

3 days
3 weeks

Anglican Church New Brighton

1963

16 February 1916

Rev. H. Matthias Anglican

No	116
Date of Notice	16 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Warring	Ethel Mary Agnes Delaney
	💍 1916/4658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Customs Officer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	New Brighton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church New Brighton
Folio	1963
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Matthias Anglican

117

16 February 1916

Robert Frank Tennent Kilgour
Marjorie McKenzie Mackintosh

Robert Frank Tennant Kilgour
Marjorie McKenzie Mackintosh
💍 1916/8796

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

34
26

S.S. Ngatoro Lyttelton
Merivale

3 days

Registrar's Office Christchurch

1000

16 February 1916

Registrar

No	117
Date of Notice	16 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Frank Tennent Kilgour	Marjorie McKenzie Mackintosh
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Frank Tennant Kilgour	Marjorie McKenzie Mackintosh
	💍 1916/8796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	S.S. Ngatoro Lyttelton	Merivale
Length of Residence		3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	1000
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

118

16 February 1916

William Kennedy
Charlotte Murch

William Kennedy
Charlotte Murch
💍 1916/4659

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Shop Assistant

28
24

Sydenham
Christchurch

6 years
10 years

St. Luke's Church Christchurch

1964

16 February 1916

Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

No	118
Date of Notice	16 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kennedy	Charlotte Murch
	💍 1916/4659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Shop Assistant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	1964
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor Anglican

119

16 February 1916

Frederick Walter Scarf
Margaret Mary Jones

Frederick Walter Scarf
Margaret Mary Jones
💍 1916/4660

Bachelor
Spinster

Paper Runner
Machinist

27
22

Christchurch
Spreydon

6 months
18 months

St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch

1965

16 February 1916

Rev. R. J. Hoare R.C.

No	119
Date of Notice	16 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Walter Scarf	Margaret Mary Jones
	💍 1916/4660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Paper Runner	Machinist
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch
Folio	1965
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare R.C.

120

17 February 1916

Martin Henry Dunn
Bedelia Olive Boland

Martin Henry Dunn
Bedelia Olive Boland
💍 1916/8617

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

35
24

Upper Riccarton
Darfield

1 year
Life

Roman Catholic Church Darfield

1442

17 February 1916

Rev. D. Cronin R.C.

No	120
Date of Notice	17 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Henry Dunn	Bedelia Olive Boland
	💍 1916/8617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Upper Riccarton	Darfield
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Darfield
Folio	1442
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Cronin R.C.

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).