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 2088

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar W. W. White

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

30 October 1916

Robert Heselwood
Lily Ruby Bryant

Robert Heselwood
Lily Ruby Bryant
💍 1916/2211

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic duties

27
23

Ashburton, Oamaru
Ashburton

3 days
23 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

7925

30 October 1916

W. W. White, Registrar

No	50
Date of Notice	30 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Heselwood	Lily Ruby Bryant
	💍 1916/2211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton, Oamaru	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	7925
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

6 November 1916

William Quinn
Elaine Maud Good

William Quinn
Elaine Maud Good
💍 1916/2734

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
18

Tinwald
Dromore

3 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

7927

Fanny Good, Hinds, Mother of Minor

6 November 1916

W. W. White, Registrar

No	51
Date of Notice	6 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Quinn	Elaine Maud Good
	💍 1916/2734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Dromore
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	7927
Consent	Fanny Good, Hinds, Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	6 November 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

8 November 1916

Wallace Alexander Ross
Grace Marsh

Wallace Alexander Ross
Grace Marsh
💍 1916/2742

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic duties

35
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 years
12 months

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

7929

James Marsh, father of minor

8 November 1916

W. W. White, Registrar

No	52
Date of Notice	8 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Alexander Ross	Grace Marsh
	💍 1916/2742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic duties
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	7929
Consent	James Marsh, father of minor
Date of Certificate	8 November 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

2 December 1916

Lloyd Miller Noble
Isabella Bruce Gunn

Lloyd Miller Noble
Isabella Bruce Gunn
💍 1916/2032

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

58
38

Lynnford
Christchurch

30 years
38 years

St John's Church of England, Christchurch

7033

2 December 1916

Rev. P. J. Cocks

No	53
Date of Notice	2 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lloyd Miller Noble	Isabella Bruce Gunn
	💍 1916/2032
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	58	38
Dwelling Place	Lynnford	Christchurch
Length of Residence	30 years	38 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England, Christchurch
Folio	7033
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks

9 December 1916

Alfred Whiting
Catherine Rebecca Lovett

Alfred Whiting
Catherine Rebecca Lovett
💍 1916/2743

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

22
21

Mayfield
Ashburton

16 years
6 months, Tinwald

Church of England, Tinwald

7930

9 December 1916

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	54
Date of Notice	9 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Whiting	Catherine Rebecca Lovett
	💍 1916/2743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Ashburton
Length of Residence	16 years	6 months, Tinwald
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tinwald
Folio	7930
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

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).