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 1973

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

170

4 April 1917

John Boughen
Susannah Staples

John Boughen
Susannah Staples
💍 1917/2858

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

21
24

Spreydon
Opawa

2 days
2 years

Church of Christ, Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch

2049

4 April 1917

Mr R Gebbie, Church of Christ

No	170
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boughen	Susannah Staples
	💍 1917/2858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Opawa
Length of Residence	2 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	2049
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Mr R Gebbie, Church of Christ

171

4 April 1917

Ernest Herbert Boreham
Alice Maria Burt

Ernest Herbert Boneham
Alice Maria Burt
💍 1917/2869

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

37
32

Christchurch
Christchurch, Spreydon

3 days
8 years

Residence of Mr Burt, 160 Redruth Avenue, Spreydon

2050

4 April 1917

Rev. L. B. Busfield, Baptist

No	171
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Herbert Boreham	Alice Maria Burt
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Herbert Boneham	Alice Maria Burt
	💍 1917/2869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch, Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Burt, 160 Redruth Avenue, Spreydon
Folio	2050
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. B. Busfield, Baptist

172

4 April 1917

Ralph Ewart Wheatley
Gladys Maude Scull

Ralph Ewart Wheatley
Gladys Maude Scull
💍 1917/2876

Bachelor
Spinster

Clicker
Machinist

32
23

Beckenham
Burwood

8 years
3 years

Congregational Church, Tennyson St., Sydenham

2051

4 April 1917

Rev. W. Tanner, Congregational

No	172
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Ewart Wheatley	Gladys Maude Scull
	💍 1917/2876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clicker	Machinist
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Beckenham	Burwood
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Tennyson St., Sydenham
Folio	2051
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tanner, Congregational

173

4 April 1917

Frederick Thomas Martin
Jean Hetherington Burns

Frederick Thomas Martin
Jean Hetherington Burns
💍 1917/2877

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Music Teacher

28
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
Life

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

2052

4 April 1917

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	173
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Thomas Martin	Jean Hetherington Burns
	💍 1917/2877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Music Teacher
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	Life
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	2052
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

174

4 April 1917

Leslie Thomas Skudder
Alice Mabel Pearce

Leslie Thomas Skudder
Alice Mabel Pearce
💍 1917/2878

Bachelor
Spinster

Metalworker
Clerk

24
21

Woolston
Merivale

16 years
Life

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

2053

4 April 1917

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	174
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Thomas Skudder	Alice Mabel Pearce
	💍 1917/2878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metalworker	Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Merivale
Length of Residence	16 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	2053
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

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).