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 2179

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

436

8 June 1916

Frederick Claude Johnston
Rosina Helen Harvey

Frederick Claude Johnston
Rosina Helen Harvey
💍 1916/634

Bachelor
Divorced. Decree absolute dated 31 August 1910

Railway Employee

23
26

Woolston
Addington

Life
10 years

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

4696

8 June 1916

Rev. A.T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	436
Date of Notice	8 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Claude Johnston	Rosina Helen Harvey
	💍 1916/634
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced. Decree absolute dated 31 August 1910
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Addington
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	4696
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.T. Thompson, Presbyterian

437

8 June 1916

John Bell Condliffe
Olive Grace Mills

John Bell Condliffe
Olive Grace Mills
💍 1916/5924

Bachelor
Spinster

University Lecturer

24
20

Christchurch
Russell's Flat

4 months
9 months

Methodist Church Russell's Flat

3330

Charles Mills, Father

8 June 1916

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	437
Date of Notice	8 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bell Condliffe	Olive Grace Mills
	💍 1916/5924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	University Lecturer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Russell's Flat
Length of Residence	4 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Russell's Flat
Folio	3330
Consent	Charles Mills, Father
Date of Certificate	8 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

438

8 June 1916

Walter Charles Cropp
Agnes Loeda Gunn

Walter Charles Cropp
Agnes Loeda Gunn
💍 1916/5925

Bachelor
Spinster

Town Clerk

32
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 months
4 years

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

3331

8 June 1916

Rev. W. R. Campbell, Presbyterian

No	438
Date of Notice	8 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Charles Cropp	Agnes Loeda Gunn
	💍 1916/5925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Town Clerk
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	3331
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Campbell, Presbyterian

439

9 June 1916

Arthur William Richard Earnest Dryden
Catherine Agnes Deady

Arthur William Richard Earnest Dryden
Catherine Agnes Deady
💍 1916/5926

Bachelor
Widow. 22 January 1915

Fireman

31
31

S. S. Opouri, Lyttelton
Sydenham

3 days
18 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

3332

9 June 1916

Registrar

No	439
Date of Notice	9 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Richard Earnest Dryden	Catherine Agnes Deady
	💍 1916/5926
Condition	Bachelor	Widow. 22 January 1915
Profession	Fireman
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	S. S. Opouri, Lyttelton	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	3332
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

440

10 June 1916

Thomas Priston
Charlotte Gladden

Thomas Priston
Charlotte Gladden
💍 1916/5927

Widower. 25 August 1915
Spinster

Carpenter

72
51

Linwood
Christchurch

18 years
Life

Registrar's Office Christchurch

3333

10 June 1916

Registrar

No	440
Date of Notice	10 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Priston	Charlotte Gladden
	💍 1916/5927
Condition	Widower. 25 August 1915	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	72	51
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	3333
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1916
Officiating Minister	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).