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 2343

District of Malvern Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar A. E. Pill

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

24 April 1916

Terence O'Connor
Francis Mary Mason

Terence O'Connor
Frances Mary Mason
💍 1916/6733

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Cook

28
27

Staircase
Annandale

8 months
one week

Catholic Church Springfield

4223

24 April 1916

Rev. Father Cronin Darfield Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	24 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Terence O'Connor	Francis Mary Mason
BDM Match (97%)	Terence O'Connor	Frances Mary Mason
	💍 1916/6733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Cook
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Staircase	Annandale
Length of Residence	8 months	one week
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Springfield
Folio	4223
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Cronin Darfield Catholic

25 April 1916

George England
Susan Rogers

George England
Susan Millicent Odgers
💍 1916/6732

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
29

Sheffield
Springfield

one week
29 years

St Andrews Anglican Church Springfield

4222

25 April 1916

Rev. O. Fitzgerald Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	25 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George England	Susan Rogers
BDM Match (73%)	George England	Susan Millicent Odgers
	💍 1916/6732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Sheffield	Springfield
Length of Residence	one week	29 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Anglican Church Springfield
Folio	4222
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald Anglican

25 April 1916

Melmoth Gibson Allanby
Frances Ada Mills

Melmoth Gibson Allanby
Frances Ada Mills
💍 1916/6743

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
23

Greendale
Greendale

6 months
23 years

Baptist Church Greendale

4226

25 April 1916

Rev. E. E. Smith Baptist

No	6
Date of Notice	25 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Melmoth Gibson Allanby	Frances Ada Mills
	💍 1916/6743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Greendale	Greendale
Length of Residence	6 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Greendale
Folio	4226
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Smith Baptist

29 April 1916

Andrew McBride McHugh
Mary Francis Slattery

Andrew Gilbride McHugh
Mary Frances Slattery
💍 1916/6734

Bachelor
Spinster

Constable
Domestic

26
25

Darfield
Darfield

4 days
25 years

Catholic Church Darfield

4224

29 April 1916

Rev. Father Cronin Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	29 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew McBride McHugh	Mary Francis Slattery
BDM Match (89%)	Andrew Gilbride McHugh	Mary Frances Slattery
	💍 1916/6734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Constable	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Darfield	Darfield
Length of Residence	4 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Darfield
Folio	4224
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Cronin Catholic

16 June 1916

John Bell Condliffe
Olive Grace Mills

John Bell Condliffe
Olive Grace Mills
💍 1916/5924

Bachelor
Spinster

University Lecturer
Domestic duties

24
20

Christchurch
Russells Flat

4 months
9 months

Wesleyan Methodist Church Russells Flat

3330

Charles Mills Father of Bride

16 June 1916

Rev. J. J. North Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	16 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bell Condliffe	Olive Grace Mills
	💍 1916/5924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	University Lecturer	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Russells Flat
Length of Residence	4 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Methodist Church Russells Flat
Folio	3330
Consent	Charles Mills Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	16 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North Methodist

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).