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 1959

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

100

5 March 1917

George Campbell Steven
Florence May Marshall

George Campbell Steven
Florence May Marshall
💍 1917/1770

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Dressmaker

34
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church Christchurch

653

5 March 1917

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	100
Date of Notice	5 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Campbell Steven	Florence May Marshall
	💍 1917/1770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Dressmaker
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church Christchurch
Folio	653
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

101

5 March 1917

Albert McLelland
Mary Eleanor Blakemore

Albert McClelland
Mary Eleanor Blakemore
💍 1917/1771

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Riccarton
Springston

2 weeks
Life

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

654

5 March 1917

Rev. W. B. Scott, Methodist

No	101
Date of Notice	5 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert McLelland	Mary Eleanor Blakemore
BDM Match (94%)	Albert McClelland	Mary Eleanor Blakemore
	💍 1917/1771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Springston
Length of Residence	2 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	654
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Scott, Methodist

102

5 March 1917

John Cecil Tipping
Frances Jones

John Cecil Tipping
Frances Jones
💍 1917/1772

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (Farrier)

23
23

Redcliffs
Christchurch

19 years
2 week

Church of England Redcliffs

655

5 March 1917

Rev. G. de B. Galwey, Anglican

No	102
Date of Notice	5 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cecil Tipping	Frances Jones
	💍 1917/1772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (Farrier)
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Redcliffs	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	2 week
Marriage Place	Church of England Redcliffs
Folio	655
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. de B. Galwey, Anglican

103

5 March 1917

Arthur Edward Norman
Margaret Cecelia McKay

Arthur Edward Norman
Margaret Cecilia McKay
💍 1917/1773

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (Machinist)
Tailoress

30
30

Linwood
Addington

6 years
6 years

Residence of Mrs McKay 244 Selwyn St, Addington

656

5 March 1917

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	103
Date of Notice	5 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Norman	Margaret Cecelia McKay
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Edward Norman	Margaret Cecilia McKay
	💍 1917/1773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (Machinist)	Tailoress
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Addington
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs McKay 244 Selwyn St, Addington
Folio	656
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

104

5 March 1917

George Frank Banfield
Elsie Margaret Laing

George Frank Banfield
Elsie Margaret Laing
💍 1917/1774

Bachelor
Spinster

marine Engineer

27
22

Opawa
Opawa

17 years
7 years

Methodist Church Opawa

657

5 March 1917

Rev. W. Laycock, Methodist

No	104
Date of Notice	5 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frank Banfield	Elsie Margaret Laing
	💍 1917/1774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	marine Engineer
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Opawa
Length of Residence	17 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Opawa
Folio	657
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock, 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).