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 2096

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

10 January 1916

Arthur Austin
Elizabeth Groves

Arthur Austin
Elizabeth Groves
💍 1916/4695

Widower, 19-1-1913
Spinster

Ganger, New Zealand Railways

45
45

Burnham
Burnham

5 years
3 years

Methodist Church, Sydenham

1903

10 January 1916

Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	26
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Austin	Elizabeth Groves
	💍 1916/4695
Condition	Widower, 19-1-1913	Spinster
Profession	Ganger, New Zealand Railways
Age	45	45
Dwelling Place	Burnham	Burnham
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Sydenham
Folio	1903
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Scotter, Methodist

10 January 1916

Francis Joseph Wilson
Eileen Duggan

Francis Joseph Wilson
Eileen Duggan
💍 1916/4696

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Tailoress

24
22

Sydenham
Sydenham

Life
Life

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

1904

10 January 1916

Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Wilson	Eileen Duggan
	💍 1916/4696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Tailoress
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	1904
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

10 January 1916

Alfred Ernest Russell
Eva Grace Gertrude McTaggart

Alfred Ernest Russell
Eva Grace Gertrude McTaggart
💍 1916/4697

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

28
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

Residence of Rev. F. Rule, 45 Richmond Terrace, Christchurch

1905

10 January 1916

Rev. F. Rule, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Russell	Eva Grace Gertrude McTaggart
	💍 1916/4697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. F. Rule, 45 Richmond Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	1905
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Rule, Presbyterian

11 January 1916

John Wilson
Eliza Gertrude Pashby

John Wilson
Eliza Gertrude Pashby
💍 1916/4698

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
47

Woolston
Woolston

3 days
3 years

Methodist Church, Opawa

1906

11 January 1916

Rev. W. Laycock, Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	11 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wilson	Eliza Gertrude Pashby
	💍 1916/4698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	47
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Opawa
Folio	1906
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock, Methodist

11 January 1916

Albert Victor Wilson Hayston
Anna Campbell

Albert Victor Wilson Hayston
Anna Campbell
💍 1916/4699

Cecil Wood Stafford
Anna Campbell
💍 1916/6483

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Machinist

26
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
10 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

1907

11 January 1916

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	11 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Victor Wilson Hayston	Anna Campbell
	💍 1916/4699
BDM Match (61%)	Cecil Wood Stafford	Anna Campbell
	💍 1916/6483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Machinist
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	1907
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, 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).