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 2084

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 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

15 July 1916

Harry Hill
Amy Marsden

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

32
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 1/2 years
24 years

Wills Street Methodist Church Ashburton

Not Fol d See attached

15 July 1916

Rev. J. D. McArthur

No	37
Date of Notice	15 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hill	Amy Marsden
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Wills Street Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	Not Fol d See attached
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. McArthur

21 July 1916

John Whiting
Ellen May Husband

John Whiting
Ellen May Husband
💍 1916/1449

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
domestic duties

29
23

Eiffelton
Eiffelton

1 9/12 years
23 years

Church of England Windermere

6118

21 July 1916

Rev. H. B. Jones

No	38
Date of Notice	21 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Whiting	Ellen May Husband
	💍 1916/1449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Eiffelton	Eiffelton
Length of Residence	1 9/12 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Windermere
Folio	6118
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones

22 July 1916

Wilfred Lewis Bromley
Dorothea Harrison Terras

Wilfred Lewis Bramley
Dorothea Harrison Terras
💍 1916/1453

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Tailoress

36
35

Hampstead
Ashburton

9 years
30 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

6122

24 July 1916

Rev. Geo Frost

No	39
Date of Notice	22 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Lewis Bromley	Dorothea Harrison Terras
BDM Match (98%)	Wilfred Lewis Bramley	Dorothea Harrison Terras
	💍 1916/1453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Tailoress
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	6122
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Frost

24 August 1916

Frank Hancock
Sarah Maud Lucy Patching

Frank Hancox
Sarah Maud Lucy Patching
💍 1916/1456

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
domestic duties

41
30

Christchurch
Ashburton

2 1/2 years
8 months

S Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6124

24 August 1916

Rev. H. N. Wright

No	40
Date of Notice	24 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hancock	Sarah Maud Lucy Patching
BDM Match (92%)	Frank Hancox	Sarah Maud Lucy Patching
	💍 1916/1456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	domestic duties
Age	41	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	8 months
Marriage Place	S Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6124
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright

5 September 1916

Robert Roy Gordon Smart
Rose Caroline Banks

Robert Roy Gordon Smart
Rose Caroline Banks
💍 1916/1455

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

32
21

Ashburton
Tinwald

15 years
15 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6123

5 September 1916

W. W. White Registrar

No	41
Date of Notice	5 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Roy Gordon Smart	Rose Caroline Banks
	💍 1916/1455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6123
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1916
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

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).