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 2052

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar F. Evans

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

552

15 October 1917

George Irving Marshall
Marjory Muriel Muir

George Irvng Marshall
Marjory Muriel Muir
💍 1917/5494

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

28
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 day
3 days

St Andrews Church Christchurch

5125

15 October 1917

Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

No	552
Date of Notice	15 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Irving Marshall	Marjory Muriel Muir
BDM Match (98%)	George Irvng Marshall	Marjory Muriel Muir
	💍 1917/5494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Christchurch
Folio	5125
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson Presbyterian

553

15 October 1917

Joseph Eric Holt
Evelyn Boddington

Joseph Eric Holt
Evelyn Boddington
💍 1917/265

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

22
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

11 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

5010

15 October 1917

Registrar

No	553
Date of Notice	15 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Eric Holt	Evelyn Boddington
	💍 1917/265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	5010
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

554

16 October 1917

William Rundle
Nellie Stack

William Rundle
Nellie Stack
💍 1917/266

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
32

Christchurch
St Albans

5 months
5 months

St Mary's Church Manchester Street Christchurch

5011

16 October 1917

Rev. C. H. Seymour R.C.

No	554
Date of Notice	16 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rundle	Nellie Stack
	💍 1917/266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St Albans
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Manchester Street Christchurch
Folio	5011
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour R.C.

555

16 October 1917

Henry Herbert Brown
Mary Ede Olliver

Henry Herbert Brown
Mary Ede Olliver
💍 1917/267

Widower
Spinster

Draper's Salesman
School Teacher

55
49

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr J Olliver 76 Edward avenue, St Albans

5012

16 October 1917

Rev. J. E. Parsons Methodist

No	555
Date of Notice	16 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Herbert Brown	Mary Ede Olliver
	💍 1917/267
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Salesman	School Teacher
Age	55	49
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J Olliver 76 Edward avenue, St Albans
Folio	5012
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Parsons Methodist

556

16 October 1917

Herbert Edmund Berry
Lillian Ruth Taigel

Herbert Edmund Berry
Lillian Ruth Taigel
💍 1917/268

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Shop Assistant

35
23

Opawa
Opawa

34 years
5 years

Methodist Church Colombo St Sydenham

5013

16 October 1917

Rev. W. Beckett Methodist

No	556
Date of Notice	16 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edmund Berry	Lillian Ruth Taigel
	💍 1917/268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Shop Assistant
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Opawa
Length of Residence	34 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Colombo St Sydenham
Folio	5013
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett Methodist

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).