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 2211

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

591

14 August 1916

Kenneth Simpson
Amelia Sophia Streeter

Kenneth Simpson
Amelia Sophia Streeter
💍 1916/7674

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

23
22

Linwood
Linwood

1 week
Life

Registrar's Office Christchurch

5297

14 August 1916

Registrar

No	591
Date of Notice	14 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Simpson	Amelia Sophia Streeter
	💍 1916/7674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	1 week	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	5297
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

592

15 August 1916

George Henry Riley
Ethel Maud Walker

George Henry Riley
Ethel Maud Walker
💍 1916/7675

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
24

New Brighton
New Brighton

3 days
24 years

Anglican Church new Brighton

5298

15 August 1916

Rev. H. Mathias Anglican

No	592
Date of Notice	15 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Riley	Ethel Maud Walker
	💍 1916/7675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church new Brighton
Folio	5298
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Mathias Anglican

593

15 August 1916

Richard Waugh
Bertha Wurms

Richard Waugh
Bertha Warms
💍 1916/7676

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Waitress

30
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Cathedral Barbados St. Christchurch

5299

15 August 1916

Rev. J. C. Murphy R.C.

No	593
Date of Notice	15 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Waugh	Bertha Wurms
BDM Match (96%)	Richard Waugh	Bertha Warms
	💍 1916/7676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Waitress
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Barbados St. Christchurch
Folio	5299
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Murphy R.C.

594

16 August 1916

Thomas Hamilton Moorhead
Kathleen Annie Wolfreys

Thomas Hamilton Moorhead
Kathleen Annie Wolfreys
💍 1916/7677

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Mary's Church Addington

5300

Walter Edmund Wolfreys, Father

16 August 1916

Rev. W. S. Bean Anglican

No	594
Date of Notice	16 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hamilton Moorhead	Kathleen Annie Wolfreys
	💍 1916/7677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Addington
Folio	5300
Consent	Walter Edmund Wolfreys, Father
Date of Certificate	16 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean Anglican

595

16 August 1916

Roderick Hugh Knox
Elizabeth May Lamond

Roderick Hugh Knox
Elizabeth Mary Lamond
💍 1916/7685

Bachelor
Spinster

Implement Fitter

24
27

Addington
Addington

4 days
4 months

Dwelling of Mr. R. G. Lamond 62 Poulson St. Addington

5301

16 August 1916

Adjutant C. H. Lord Salvationist.

No	595
Date of Notice	16 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Hugh Knox	Elizabeth May Lamond
BDM Match (98%)	Roderick Hugh Knox	Elizabeth Mary Lamond
	💍 1916/7685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Implement Fitter
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. R. G. Lamond 62 Poulson St. Addington
Folio	5301
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Adjutant C. H. Lord Salvationist.

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).