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 2130

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

191

10 March 1916

James Thomas Palatchie
Ruby Evelyn Hawtin

James Thomas Palatchie
Ruby Evelyn Hawtin
💍 1916/428

Bachelor
Spinster

Studgroom

33
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
5 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

1019

Fredk Wm Hawtin, Father

10 March 1916

Registrar

No	191
Date of Notice	10 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Palatchie	Ruby Evelyn Hawtin
	💍 1916/428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Studgroom
Age	33	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	1019
Consent	Fredk Wm Hawtin, Father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

192

10 March 1916

Walter Thomas Harrison
Catherine Ethel Hay

Walter Thomas Harrison
Catherine Ethel Hay
💍 1916/430

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

28
20

Sumner
Christchurch

4 weeks
5 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

1020

Wm Hay, Father

10 March 1916

Registrar

No	192
Date of Notice	10 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Harrison	Catherine Ethel Hay
	💍 1916/430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	1020
Consent	Wm Hay, Father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

193

13 March 1916

Clarence Sydney Griffiths
Florence May Palmer

Clarence Sydney Griffiths
Florence May Palmer
💍 1916/20

Bachelor
Spinster

Motordriver

37
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
2 years

St. Matthew's Church St. Albans

2016

13 March 1916

Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

No	193
Date of Notice	13 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Sydney Griffiths	Florence May Palmer
	💍 1916/20
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motordriver
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church St. Albans
Folio	2016
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

194

13 March 1916

Henry Arthur Knight
Ivy Marion Pearl Leonard

Henry Arthur Knight
Ivy Marion Pearl Leonard
💍 1916/4857

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

26
22

Christchurch
Spreydon

3 days
4 months

St. Mary's Church Addington

2017

13 March 1916

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	194
Date of Notice	13 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Knight	Ivy Marion Pearl Leonard
	💍 1916/4857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Addington
Folio	2017
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

195

13 March 1916

John Crawford
May Winterflood Simpson Cairns Campbell

John Crawford
May Winterflood Simpson Cairns Campbell
💍 1916/4858

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
20

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 days
3 days

St. John's Church Christchurch

2018

Anne Blatchford Cox. Guardian

13 March 1916

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	195
Date of Notice	13 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Crawford	May Winterflood Simpson Cairns Campbell
	💍 1916/4858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	2018
Consent	Anne Blatchford Cox. Guardian
Date of Certificate	13 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, 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).