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 2090

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

22 December 1916

William George Bowron
Lilian Elvira Boddington

William George Bowron
Lilian Elvira Boddington
💍 1916/2746

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
22

Christchurch
Ashburton

6 months

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

7933

22 December 1916

Rev. W. Wright

No	60
Date of Notice	22 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Bowron	Lilian Elvira Boddington
	💍 1916/2746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence		6 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	7933
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wright

23 December 1916

Stanley Francis Turnbull
Joy Daisy Bright

Stanley Frances Turnbull
Ivy Daisy Bright
💍 1916/2835

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
20

Lowcliffe
Timaru

22 years

St Mary's Church of England, Timaru

8021

Julia Louise Bright, mother of junior

23 December 1916

Rev. J. H. Rogers

No	61
Date of Notice	23 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Francis Turnbull	Joy Daisy Bright
BDM Match (92%)	Stanley Frances Turnbull	Ivy Daisy Bright
	💍 1916/2835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Timaru
Length of Residence	22 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church of England, Timaru
Folio	8021
Consent	Julia Louise Bright, mother of junior
Date of Certificate	23 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers

28 December 1916

William Miller
Margaret Walker Moir

William Miller
Margaret Walker Moir
💍 1917/1225

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

30
28

Mayfield
Hillend

30 years
6 days

Presbyterian Church, Balclutha

127

28 December 1916

Rev. Alexander Morton

No	62
Date of Notice	28 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Miller	Margaret Walker Moir
	💍 1917/1225
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Hillend
Length of Residence	30 years	6 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Balclutha
Folio	127
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Morton

28 December 1916

Charles Thomas Gordon Knudsen
Ethel Mildred Sumner

Charles Thomas Gordon Knudsen
Ethel Mildred Sumner
💍 1917/1226

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Tailoress

21
18

Willoughby
Hampstead

8 years
18 years

at the dwelling of William Sumner, Hampstead

128

William Sumner, father of junior

28 December 1916

Rev. W. C. Blair

No	63
Date of Notice	28 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Gordon Knudsen	Ethel Mildred Sumner
	💍 1917/1226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Tailoress
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Willoughby	Hampstead
Length of Residence	8 years	18 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of William Sumner, Hampstead
Folio	128
Consent	William Sumner, father of junior
Date of Certificate	28 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Blair

29 December 1916

Charles Henry Holland
Sarah Dorcas Corbett

Charles Henry Holland
Sarah Dorcas Corbett
💍 1916/2724

Bachelor
Spinster

Rifleman, 21st Reinforcement
Domestic duties

31
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

33 years

at the dwelling of Miss S. D. Corbett, Ashburton

7935

29 December 1916

Rev. George Miller

No	64
Date of Notice	29 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Holland	Sarah Dorcas Corbett
	💍 1916/2724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rifleman, 21st Reinforcement	Domestic duties
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence		33 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Miss S. D. Corbett, Ashburton
Folio	7935
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller

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).