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 2114

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

111

15 February 1916

Herbert Samuel Harris
Emily Ann Hathaway Sadler

Herbert Samuel Harris
Emily Anne Hathaway Sadler
💍 1916/4653

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
23

Christchurch
Fendalton

4 days
4 months

St. Mary's Church Addington

1958

15 February 1916

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	111
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Samuel Harris	Emily Ann Hathaway Sadler
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Samuel Harris	Emily Anne Hathaway Sadler
	💍 1916/4653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Fendalton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Addington
Folio	1958
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

112

15 February 1916

John Stewart Bowman
Annie Christina Nilsen

John Stewart Bowman
Annie Christina Nilsen
💍 1916/4654

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron Moulder

31
28

Opawa
Christchurch

20 years
16 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

1959

15 February 1916

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	112
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart Bowman	Annie Christina Nilsen
	💍 1916/4654
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron Moulder
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	1959
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

113

15 February 1916

Percy Geary
Elizabeth Maud Little

Percy Geary
Elizabeth Maud Little
💍 1916/4655

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

28
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
4 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

1960

15 February 1916

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	113
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Geary	Elizabeth Maud Little
	💍 1916/4655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	1960
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

114

15 February 1916

Hastings Warren Washer
Dorothy Deborah Neilson

Hastings Warren Washer
Dorothy Deborah Neilson
💍 1916/4656

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

23
23

Christchurch
Merivale

6 years
3 years

St. Barnabas' Church Fendalton

1961

15 February 1916

Rev. T. A. Hamilton, Anglican

No	114
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hastings Warren Washer	Dorothy Deborah Neilson
	💍 1916/4656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Merivale
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas' Church Fendalton
Folio	1961
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Hamilton, Anglican

115

16 February 1916

William Birnie
Edna Rachel Bundy

William Birnie
Edna Rachel Bundy
💍 1916/4657

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

37
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
3 days

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

1962

16 February 1916

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	115
Date of Notice	16 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Birnie	Edna Rachel Bundy
	💍 1916/4657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	1962
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

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).