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 2035

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

467

30 August 1917

David George Ashley
Lilly Parsons

David George Ashley
Lilly Parsons
💍 1917/4270

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

20
20

St. Albans
Christchurch

8 years
4 years

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

3592

Elizabeth Ashley, mother; Edmd. Parsons Father.

30 August 1917

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	467
Date of Notice	30 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David George Ashley	Lilly Parsons
	💍 1917/4270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	3592
Consent	Elizabeth Ashley, mother; Edmd. Parsons Father.
Date of Certificate	30 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

468

30 August 1917

Ernst McKay
Pearl Catherine Chidgey

Ernest McKay
Pearl Cathrine Chidgey
💍 1917/4272

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

24
22

Christchurch
St. Albans

3 months
6 years

House of Mr G. H. Chidgey, 33 Trafalgar St., St. Albans

3593

30 August 1917

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	468
Date of Notice	30 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernst McKay	Pearl Catherine Chidgey
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest McKay	Pearl Cathrine Chidgey
	💍 1917/4272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 months	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr G. H. Chidgey, 33 Trafalgar St., St. Albans
Folio	3593
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

469

3 September 1917

Robert Twiss
Phoebe Myrtle Heafield Longton

Robert Twiss
Phoebe Myrtle Hearfield Longton
💍 1917/4273

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
26

St. Albans
St. Albans

7 days
5 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester St, Christchurch

3594

3 September 1917

Rev. P. Regnault, R.C.

No	469
Date of Notice	3 September 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Twiss	Phoebe Myrtle Heafield Longton
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Twiss	Phoebe Myrtle Hearfield Longton
	💍 1917/4273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	7 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester St, Christchurch
Folio	3594
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault, R.C.

470

3 September 1917

Neil Russell Muir
Doris Marie Christensen

Neil Russell Muir
Doris Marie Christensen
💍 1917/4274

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
22

Christchurch
Avonside

20 years
2 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

3595

3 September 1917

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	470
Date of Notice	3 September 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Russell Muir	Doris Marie Christensen
	💍 1917/4274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Avonside
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3595
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

471

4 September 1917

William Andrew Smythe
Ethel Izona Mulford

William Andrew Smythe
Ethel Izona Mulford
💍 1917/4779

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer
Tailoress

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
5 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

4155

4 September 1917

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	471
Date of Notice	4 September 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Andrew Smythe	Ethel Izona Mulford
	💍 1917/4779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer	Tailoress
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	4155
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 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).