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 2021

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

397

26 July 1917

Edward Drury Bonney
Elizabeth Maude Helene Anderson

Edward Drury Bonney
Elizabeth Maude Helene Anderson
💍 1917/4384

Previously married but not heard of wife for 13 Years last Past.
Spinster

Storekeeper

44
37

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
4 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

3524

26 July 1917

Registrar

No	397
Date of Notice	26 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Drury Bonney	Elizabeth Maude Helene Anderson
	💍 1917/4384
Condition	Previously married but not heard of wife for 13 Years last Past.	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	44	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	3524
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

398

26 July 1917

William Thomas Wallace Rutledge
Kate Anton

William Thomas Wallace Rutledge
Kate Auton
💍 1917/4395

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

35
29

Sydenham
New Brighton

10 years
20 years

Methodist Church East Belt Christchurch

3525

26 July 1917

Rev. E. P. Blamires, Methodist

No	398
Date of Notice	26 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Wallace Rutledge	Kate Anton
BDM Match (95%)	William Thomas Wallace Rutledge	Kate Auton
	💍 1917/4395
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	New Brighton
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church East Belt Christchurch
Folio	3525
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. P. Blamires, Methodist

399

27 July 1917

James Tasman Smith
Sarah Muncey

James Tasman Smith
Sarah Muncey
💍 1917/4402

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder

27
24

Woolston
Christchurch

6 months
5 years

Baptist Manse 271 Fitzgerald Avenue Christchurch

3526

27 July 1917

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	399
Date of Notice	27 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Tasman Smith	Sarah Muncey
	💍 1917/4402
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Manse 271 Fitzgerald Avenue Christchurch
Folio	3526
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

400

27 July 1917

Trevor Burwood Cargill
Dorothy Grace Tosswill

Trevor Burwood Cargill
Dorothy Grace Tosswill
💍 1917/4403

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
11 years

St. Mary's Church Merivale

3527

27 July 1917

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	400
Date of Notice	27 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Trevor Burwood Cargill	Dorothy Grace Tosswill
	💍 1917/4403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	3527
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

401

27 July 1917

John Frederick William Golding
Margaret Mary Agnes Dempsey

John Frederick William Golding
Margaret Mary Agnes Dempsey
💍 1917/4778

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

23
20

Addington
Spreydon

2 years

Church of the Sacred Heart Addington

4154

Mary Dempsey, Mother

27 July 1917

Rev. A. O'Hare, R.C.

No	401
Date of Notice	27 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick William Golding	Margaret Mary Agnes Dempsey
	💍 1917/4778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Addington	Spreydon
Length of Residence		2 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart Addington
Folio	4154
Consent	Mary Dempsey, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O'Hare, R.C.

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).