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 1996

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

284

30 May 1917

Edward Foote
Frances Josephine Norris

Edward Foote
Frances Josephine Norris
💍 1917/3003

Widower 26 May 1914
Spinster

Confectioner

41
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

16 years
7 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

2157

30 May 1917

Registrar

No	284
Date of Notice	30 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Foote	Frances Josephine Norris
	💍 1917/3003
Condition	Widower 26 May 1914	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	41	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	2157
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

285

31 May 1917

Leslie Charles Slade
Gertrude Annie Rowse

Leslie Charles Slade
Gertrude Annie Rowse
💍 1917/3004

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
19

Sydenham
Sydenham

4 days
3 years

Residence of Mrs Rowse 382 Colombo Road Sydenham

2158

William Charles Leonard Rowse Father

31 May 1917

Rev. W. Beckett Methodist

No	285
Date of Notice	31 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Charles Slade	Gertrude Annie Rowse
	💍 1917/3004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Rowse 382 Colombo Road Sydenham
Folio	2158
Consent	William Charles Leonard Rowse Father
Date of Certificate	31 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett Methodist

286

31 May 1917

George Booth Eyre
Alice Maud Stevenson

George Booth Eyre
Alice Maud Stevenson
💍 1917/3005

Bachelor
Spinster

Presser

40
35

Christchurch
Islington

4 years
3 years

St Michael's Church Christchurch

2159

31 May 1917

Rev. A. L. Canter Anglican

No	286
Date of Notice	31 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Booth Eyre	Alice Maud Stevenson
	💍 1917/3005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Presser
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Islington
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	2159
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Canter Anglican

287

31 May 1917

Leonard Marchanton
Winifred Jones

Leonard Marchanton
Winifred Jones
💍 1917/925

Widower 12 December 1904
Widow 28 June 1898

Drapery Salesman
Tailoress

51
45

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church Addington

2160

31 May 1917

Rev. A. O'Hare Roman Catholic

No	287
Date of Notice	31 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Marchanton	Winifred Jones
	💍 1917/925
Condition	Widower 12 December 1904	Widow 28 June 1898
Profession	Drapery Salesman	Tailoress
Age	51	45
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Addington
Folio	2160
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O'Hare Roman Catholic

288

1 June 1917

William Stewart Shierlaw
Mary White

William Stewart Shierlaw
Mary White
💍 1917/2983

Oliver Black
Mary White
💍 1917/2186

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute dated 29 May 1917

Iron Machinist

37
43

Linwood
Linwood

3 years
4 years

Residence of Mr Shierlaw 9 Rolleston Street Linwood

2161

1 June 1917

Rev. J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	288
Date of Notice	1 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stewart Shierlaw	Mary White
	💍 1917/2983
BDM Match (63%)	Oliver Black	Mary White
	💍 1917/2186
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute dated 29 May 1917
Profession	Iron Machinist
Age	37	43
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Shierlaw 9 Rolleston Street Linwood
Folio	2161
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson 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).