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 2207

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

571

7 August 1916

Charles Leonard Thompson
Alison Elizabeth May Terry

Charles Leonard Thompson
Alison Elizabeth May Terry
💍 1916/7817

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
Life

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

5468

7 August 1916

Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

No	571
Date of Notice	7 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Leonard Thompson	Alison Elizabeth May Terry
	💍 1916/7817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	5468
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

572

7 August 1916

Charles Edward Gleeson
Inna Cecilia Young

Charles Edward Gleeson
Inna Cicilia Young
💍 1916/7679

Bachelor
Spinster

Artificer R.N.Z. Artillery
Dressmaker

25
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
3 days

Dwelling of Rev. T. W. Vealie 100 Harman St. Sydenham

5279

7 August 1916

Rev. T. W. Vealie Methodist

No	572
Date of Notice	7 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Gleeson	Inna Cecilia Young
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Edward Gleeson	Inna Cicilia Young
	💍 1916/7679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artificer R.N.Z. Artillery	Dressmaker
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	3 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Rev. T. W. Vealie 100 Harman St. Sydenham
Folio	5279
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Vealie Methodist

573

7 August 1916

John McNeil
Ethel Blunt

John McNeil
Ethel Blunt
💍 1916/7680

Bachelor
Spinster

Newspaper Runner
Tailoress

40
25

Linwood
Christchurch

9 years
9 years

Residence of Mr. W. P. McNeil 622 Hereford St. Linwood

5280

7 August 1916

Rev. W. A. Sinclair Methodist

No	573
Date of Notice	7 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McNeil	Ethel Blunt
	💍 1916/7680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Newspaper Runner	Tailoress
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. P. McNeil 622 Hereford St. Linwood
Folio	5280
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Sinclair Methodist

574

8 August 1916

Samuel Brown
Susan Mary Hillgrove

Samuel Brown
Susan Mary Hillgrove
💍 1916/1622

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
11 years

Residence of Rev. J. Cocker 227 Cambridge Terrace Christchurch

6315

8 August 1916

Rev. J. Cocker Methodist

No	574
Date of Notice	8 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Brown	Susan Mary Hillgrove
	💍 1916/1622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Cocker 227 Cambridge Terrace Christchurch
Folio	6315
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker Methodist

575

8 August 1916

William Germain
Jessie Stronach Taylor

William Germain
Jessie Stronach Taylor
💍 1916/7681

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

35
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

Holy Trinity Church Avonside

5281

8 August 1916

Rev. O. Fitzgerald Anglican

No	575
Date of Notice	8 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Germain	Jessie Stronach Taylor
	💍 1916/7681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside
Folio	5281
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald 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).