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 1842

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar C. O. Thomson

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

31 October 1916

Sidney Alfred Rose
Alma Evelyn Saul

Sidney Alfred Rose
Alma Evelyn Saul
💍 1916/2688

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
25

Blenheim
Springlands

2 years
25 years

Church of England, Blenheim

16/7842

31 October 1916

Ven Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

No	71
Date of Notice	31 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Alfred Rose	Alma Evelyn Saul
	💍 1916/2688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Springlands
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Blenheim
Folio	16/7842
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon T. S. Grace, Church of England

2 November 1916

Frederick Hastings Clifford
Myrtle Ivy Morgans

Frederick Hastings Clifford
Myrtle Ivy Morgans
💍 1916/2680

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic

31
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

6 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

16/7835

2 November 1916

Rev J Eccleton, Roman Catholic

No	72
Date of Notice	2 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hastings Clifford	Myrtle Ivy Morgans
	💍 1916/2680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/7835
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J Eccleton, Roman Catholic

3 November 1916

Phillip Andrew Whalley
Ida Jane Martha Elsmore

Phillip Andrew Whalley
Ida Jane Martha Elsmore
💍 1916/2687

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

22
24

Blenheim
Grovetown

2 years
24 years

Mr. C. Andrell's Residence, Grovetown

16/7841

3 November 1916

Rev J. R. B. Woollonall, Methodist

No	73
Date of Notice	3 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillip Andrew Whalley	Ida Jane Martha Elsmore
	💍 1916/2687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Grovetown
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Mr. C. Andrell's Residence, Grovetown
Folio	16/7841
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. B. Woollonall, Methodist

8 November 1916

Harold William Gordon Wratt
Ethel Maude Andrell

Harold William Gordon Wratt
Ethel Maude Andrell
💍 1916/2683

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
24

Grovetown
Grovetown

23 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Grovetown

16/7838

8 November 1916

Rev J. R. B. Woollonall, Methodist

No	74
Date of Notice	8 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold William Gordon Wratt	Ethel Maude Andrell
	💍 1916/2683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Grovetown
Folio	16/7838
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. B. Woollonall, Methodist

9 November 1916

Sidney Raymond Sandwith
Elizabeth Jane Devete-Taylor

Sidney Raymond Sandwith
Elizabeth Jane Devete-Taylor
💍 1916/2682

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

35
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

12 years
18 months

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

16/7837

9 November 1916

Rev W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	9 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Raymond Sandwith	Elizabeth Jane Devete-Taylor
	💍 1916/2682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	12 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	16/7837
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev W. O. Robb, 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).