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 2181

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

446

12 June 1916

William Alfred Price
Mary Elizabeth Butterfield

William Alfred Price
Mary Elizabeth Butterfield
💍 1916/5908

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Saleswoman

45
37

West Melton
New Brighton

45 years
37 years

Methodist Church Union St. New Brighton

3338

12 June 1916

Rev. C. Strand Methodist

No	446
Date of Notice	12 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Price	Mary Elizabeth Butterfield
	💍 1916/5908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Saleswoman
Age	45	37
Dwelling Place	West Melton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	45 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Union St. New Brighton
Folio	3338
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Strand Methodist

447

12 June 1916

Percy Dickson
Margaret Ronald Sim

Percy Dickson
Margaret Ronald Sim
💍 1916/5909

Bachelor
Spinster

Wickerworker

38
28

Sydenham
Sydenham

25 years
4 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

3339

12 June 1916

Registrar

No	447
Date of Notice	12 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Dickson	Margaret Ronald Sim
	💍 1916/5909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wickerworker
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	25 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	3339
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

448

13 June 1916

Leonard Powell
Edith Marion Davies

Leonard Powell
Edith Marion Davies
💍 1916/5910

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days
4 years

St. Paul's Manse Latimer Square Christchurch

3340

13 June 1916

Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	448
Date of Notice	13 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Powell	Edith Marion Davies
	💍 1916/5910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Manse Latimer Square Christchurch
Folio	3340
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

449

13 June 1916

Thomas Bosson
Honoria Horan

Thomas Bosson
Honoria Horan
💍 1916/12299

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
27

Christchurch
Opawa

7 days
20 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

3341

13 June 1916

Rev. J.C. Murphy R.C.

No	449
Date of Notice	13 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bosson	Honoria Horan
	💍 1916/12299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	7 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	3341
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.C. Murphy R.C.

450

13 June 1916

Rowland Gordon Johnston
Eleanor Eliza Pye

Rowland Gordon Johnston
Eleanor Eliza Pye
💍 1916/635

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

30
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

4697

13 June 1916

Rev. A.T. Thompson Presbyterian

No	450
Date of Notice	13 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rowland Gordon Johnston	Eleanor Eliza Pye
	💍 1916/635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	4697
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.T. Thompson 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).