Intentions to Marry, 1916 Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840468, 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.

1916f contains pages 2397-3014, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Page 2433

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar H. W. Montgomery

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

1 July 1916

John Edward Shaw
Edith May Taylor

John Edward Shaw
Edith May Taylor
💍 1916/1274

Bachelor
Widow

Soldier
Domestic duties

25
25

Gleniti
Gleniti

Exempt
4 months

Manse of Rev. J. A. Joughin, Timaru

6079

1 July 1916

Rev. J. A. Joughin, Methodist

No	43
Date of Notice	1 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Shaw	Edith May Taylor
	💍 1916/1274
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Gleniti	Gleniti
Length of Residence	Exempt	4 months
Marriage Place	Manse of Rev. J. A. Joughin, Timaru
Folio	6079
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Joughin, Methodist

3 July 1916

William John Opie
Sarah Rainey

William John Opie
Sarah Rainey
💍 1916/1266

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
30

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 weeks

Trinity Manse, Russell Square, Timaru

6078

3 July 1916

Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	3 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Opie	Sarah Rainey
	💍 1916/1266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Trinity Manse, Russell Square, Timaru
Folio	6078
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Stinson, Presbyterian

13 July 1916

Alexander Matthew Hamilton
Bridget Rose Clare

Alexander Matthew Hamilton
Bridget Rose Clare
💍 1916/1403

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Master
Domestic duties

26
25

Timaru
Timaru

5 days
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

6345

13 July 1916

Dean Tubman, Catholic

No	45
Date of Notice	13 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Matthew Hamilton	Bridget Rose Clare
	💍 1916/1403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Master	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	6345
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Dean Tubman, Catholic

13 July 1916

Henry Walker
Edith Blanche Hamlyn

Henry Walker
Edith Blanche Hamlyn
💍 1916/1265

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter now a soldier
Domestic duties

30
28

Timaru
Timaru

Exempt
5 years

St Mary's English Church, Timaru

6077

13 July 1916

Archdeacon Jacob, Anglican

No	46
Date of Notice	13 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Walker	Edith Blanche Hamlyn
	💍 1916/1265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter now a soldier	Domestic duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Exempt	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's English Church, Timaru
Folio	6077
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Jacob, Anglican

14 July 1916

John Muir Marwick
Lillian Alice Stapley

John Muir Marwick
Lilian Alice Stapley
💍 1916/1264

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

33
23

Timaru
Timaru

1 day
10 months

Sandietown English Church, Timaru

6076

14 July 1916

Archdeacon Jacob, Anglican

No	47
Date of Notice	14 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Muir Marwick	Lillian Alice Stapley
BDM Match (98%)	John Muir Marwick	Lilian Alice Stapley
	💍 1916/1264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 day	10 months
Marriage Place	Sandietown English Church, Timaru
Folio	6076
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Jacob, 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).