Intentions to Marry, 1917 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840473, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917e contains pages 1665-2196, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 1969

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1917

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

150

2 April 1917

Frederic Thompson Tindall
Clarice Gertrude Eaton

Frederick Thompson Tindall
Clarice Gertrude Eaton
💍 1917/2853

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Dressmaker

29
28

St. Albans
St. Albans

20 years
8 years

St. John's Church, Latimer Sq., Christchurch

2029

2 April 1917

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	150
Date of Notice	2 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Thompson Tindall	Clarice Gertrude Eaton
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Thompson Tindall	Clarice Gertrude Eaton
	💍 1917/2853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Dressmaker
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Latimer Sq., Christchurch
Folio	2029
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

151

2 April 1917

Charles William Boakes
Edith Smith Hill

Charles William Boakes
Edith Smith Hill
💍 1917/2854

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

27
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

16 years
10 years

St. Paul's Church, Papanui

2030

2 April 1917

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	151
Date of Notice	2 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Boakes	Edith Smith Hill
	💍 1917/2854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	2030
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

152

2 April 1917

Francis Williamson
Annie Louisa Hobbs

Francis Williamson
Annie Louisa Hobbs
💍 1917/2855

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Dressmaker

22
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 days
10 years

Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch

2031

2 April 1917

Rev. N. Turner, Methodist

No	152
Date of Notice	2 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Williamson	Annie Louisa Hobbs
	💍 1917/2855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Dressmaker
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch
Folio	2031
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Turner, Methodist

153

2 April 1917

Gordon Saunders Perryman
Linda Edith Davis

Gordon Saunders Peryman
Linda Edith Davis
💍 1917/2856

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Tester

24
22

Papanui
Riccarton

6 months
4 months

Anglican Church, Riccarton

2032

2 April 1917

Rev. S. W. Christian, Anglican

No	153
Date of Notice	2 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Saunders Perryman	Linda Edith Davis
BDM Match (98%)	Gordon Saunders Peryman	Linda Edith Davis
	💍 1917/2856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Tester
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Riccarton
Length of Residence	6 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Riccarton
Folio	2032
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Christian, Anglican

154

2 April 1917

John Joseph Jennings
Margaret Jane Whittington

John Joseph Jennings
Margaret Jane Whittington
💍 1917/2857

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

25
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

2033

2 April 1917

Rev. J. H. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	154
Date of Notice	2 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Jennings	Margaret Jane Whittington
	💍 1917/2857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	2033
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

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).