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 2265

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

854

14 December 1916

Horace Davy Luxton
Dorothy Alice White

Horace Davy Luxton
Dorothy Alice White
💍 1916/945

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Saleswoman

22
23

Trentham
Sydenham

2 months
6 months

St. Saviour's Church Sydenham

7087

14 December 1916

Rev. H. S. Leach Anglican

No	854
Date of Notice	14 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Davy Luxton	Dorothy Alice White
	💍 1916/945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Saleswoman
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	7087
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach Anglican

855

14 December 1916

Lowry Berkeley Sloane
Grace Chapman Henderson

Lowry Berkeley Sloane
Grace Chapman Henderson
💍 1917/1229

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

27
22

Christchurch
Sydenham

10 years
13 years

St. David's Church Sydenham

131

14 December 1916

Rev. G. Murray Presbyterian

No	855
Date of Notice	14 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lowry Berkeley Sloane	Grace Chapman Henderson
	💍 1917/1229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	10 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church Sydenham
Folio	131
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Murray Presbyterian

856

14 December 1916

Theodore Stanley Couch
Mabel Jane Tetley

Theodore Stanley Couch
Mabel Jane Tetley
💍 1916/946

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

26
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 months
2 months

Methodist Church Shirley Christchurch

7088

14 December 1916

Rev. C. Strand Methodist

No	856
Date of Notice	14 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Stanley Couch	Mabel Jane Tetley
	💍 1916/946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Shirley Christchurch
Folio	7088
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Strand Methodist

857

15 December 1916

Frederick Walter Watson
Eveline Lucy McNeely

Frederick Walter Watson
Eveline Lucy McNeely
💍 1916/947

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Clerk

30
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
24 years

St. Peter's Church Ferry Rd. Christchurch

7089

15 December 1916

Rev. T. Mc Donald Methodist

No	857
Date of Notice	15 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Walter Watson	Eveline Lucy McNeely
	💍 1916/947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Clerk
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Ferry Rd. Christchurch
Folio	7089
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Mc Donald Methodist

858

15 December 1916

Ernest August Barritt
Adelaide Olive Smith

Ernest August Berritt
Adelaide Olive Smith
💍 1916/948

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

31
24

Christchurch
Linwood

Life
7 years

St. Michael's Church Christchurch

7090

15 December 1916

Rev. C. E. Perry Anglican

No	858
Date of Notice	15 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest August Barritt	Adelaide Olive Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest August Berritt	Adelaide Olive Smith
	💍 1916/948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	Life	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	7090
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry 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).