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 2139

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

236

28 March 1916

Robert David Evans (commonly known as Robert David Jones)
Nellie Gentle

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

33
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 days
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

1031

28 March 1916

Registrar

No	236
Date of Notice	28 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert David Evans (commonly known as Robert David Jones)	Nellie Gentle
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	1031
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

237

28 March 1916

Daniel Ferguson Flavell
Margaret Jane Bloomfield (name at birth) Margaret Jane McPherson (name by adoption)

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Shop Assistant

28
24

St. Albans
St. Albans

6 months
3 weeks

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

2043

28 March 1916

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	237
Date of Notice	28 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Ferguson Flavell	Margaret Jane Bloomfield (name at birth) Margaret Jane McPherson (name by adoption)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Shop Assistant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	6 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	2043
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

238

28 March 1916

William Henry Paget
Annie Frances Norton

William Henry Paget
Annie Frances Norton
💍 1916/465

Widower 1.3.1914
Spinster

Barman

32
30

Christchurch
Opawa

9 months
2 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

1032

28 March 1916

Registrar

No	238
Date of Notice	28 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Paget	Annie Frances Norton
	💍 1916/465
Condition	Widower 1.3.1914	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	1032
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

239

29 March 1916

Angus Gordon Foster
Lalla Nellie Bertha Hamus

Angus Gordon Foster
Lalla Nellie Bertha Hemus
💍 1916/5181

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Musician

22
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
20 years

Miss Coombs' "Henrietta" Tea Rooms Cashel St. Christchurch

2044

29 March 1916

Rev. A. Liversedge, Methodist

No	239
Date of Notice	29 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Gordon Foster	Lalla Nellie Bertha Hamus
BDM Match (98%)	Angus Gordon Foster	Lalla Nellie Bertha Hemus
	💍 1916/5181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Musician
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Miss Coombs' "Henrietta" Tea Rooms Cashel St. Christchurch
Folio	2044
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Liversedge, Methodist

240

29 March 1916

Vere Churchill Buchanan
Coral Annie Andrew

Vere Churchill Buchanan
Coral Annie Andrews
💍 1916/5716

Divorced Dec. abs. dated 28. 2. 1916
Spinster

Teacher of Violin

31
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
15 years

Dwelling of Rev. J. Paterson Latimer Square Christchurch

3139

Edwin Andrew Father

29 March 1916

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	240
Date of Notice	29 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vere Churchill Buchanan	Coral Annie Andrew
BDM Match (97%)	Vere Churchill Buchanan	Coral Annie Andrews
	💍 1916/5716
Condition	Divorced Dec. abs. dated 28. 2. 1916	Spinster
Profession	Teacher of Violin
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Rev. J. Paterson Latimer Square Christchurch
Folio	3139
Consent	Edwin Andrew Father
Date of Certificate	29 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, 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).