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 2200

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

536

24 July 1916

Henry Frederic Zander
Euphemia Lamont

Henry Frederic Zander
Euphemia Lamont
💍 1916/7649

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Clerk

24
21

Christchurch
Sydenham

9 months
4 years

Methodist Church Selwyn St. Addington

5247

24 July 1916

Rev. T. W. Vealie Methodist

No	536
Date of Notice	24 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Frederic Zander	Euphemia Lamont
	💍 1916/7649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	9 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Selwyn St. Addington
Folio	5247
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Vealie Methodist

537

24 July 1916

Charles Henry Hills Commonly Known as Charles Henry Bedford
Agnes Jane McNicholl

Charles Henry Bedford
Agnes Jane McNicholl
💍 1916/7650

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Porter

23
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
Life

Registrar's Office Christchurch

5248

24 July 1916

Registrar

No	537
Date of Notice	24 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Hills Commonly Known as Charles Henry Bedford	Agnes Jane McNicholl
BDM Match (68%)	Charles Henry Bedford	Agnes Jane McNicholl
	💍 1916/7650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Porter
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	5248
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

538

26 July 1916

Ernest Knight Binstead
Minnie Pearl Elvine Townsend

Ernest Knight Binsted
Minnie Pearl Elvine Townsend
💍 1916/14018

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

21
21

Linwood
Linwood

4 years
16 years

Methodist Church Ollivier's Rd. Linwood

5249

26 July 1916

Rev. C. Strand Methodist

No	538
Date of Notice	26 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Knight Binstead	Minnie Pearl Elvine Townsend
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Knight Binsted	Minnie Pearl Elvine Townsend
	💍 1916/14018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Ollivier's Rd. Linwood
Folio	5249
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Strand Methodist

539

26 July 1916

Thompson John Ennis
Ethel May Hutton

Thompson John Ennis
Ethel May Hutton
💍 1916/7652

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Clerk

36
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 day
Life

Trinity Congregational Church Christchurch

5250

26 July 1916

Rev. W. Tanner Congregational

No	539
Date of Notice	26 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thompson John Ennis	Ethel May Hutton
	💍 1916/7652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Clerk
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 day	Life
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church Christchurch
Folio	5250
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tanner Congregational

540

26 July 1916

Bertram Priestley
Constance Treadwell

Bertram Priestley
Constance Meadwell
💍 1916/7612

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

33
33

Spreydon
Christchurch

1 year
16 years

Methodist Parsonage 4 Harper St. Sydenham

5251

26 July 1916

Rev. A. N. Scotter Methodist

No	540
Date of Notice	26 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Priestley	Constance Treadwell
BDM Match (95%)	Bertram Priestley	Constance Meadwell
	💍 1916/7612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage 4 Harper St. Sydenham
Folio	5251
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).