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 1958

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

28 February 1917

William Grant
Emily Armstrong

William Grant
Emily Armstrong
💍 1917/1518

Widower June 10, 1915
Widow December 5th 1915

Land Salesman

60
58

Linwood
Linwood

15 years
35 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

648

28 February 1917

Registrar

No	95
Date of Notice	28 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Grant	Emily Armstrong
	💍 1917/1518
Condition	Widower June 10, 1915	Widow December 5th 1915
Profession	Land Salesman
Age	60	58
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	15 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	648
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1 March 1917

Ernest Augustus Heyder
Agnes Grace Morrison

Ernest Augustus Heyder
Agnes Grace Morrison
💍 1917/1519

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
3 years

Dwelling of Mrs. W. K. Morrison 22 Richmond Terrace Richmond Christchurch

649

1 March 1917

Rev. H. A. Job. Congregational

No	96
Date of Notice	1 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Augustus Heyder	Agnes Grace Morrison
	💍 1917/1519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs. W. K. Morrison 22 Richmond Terrace Richmond Christchurch
Folio	649
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Job. Congregational

1 March 1917

Leonard Robert Cant
Dulcie Alice Maud Thompson

Leonard Robert Cant
Dulcie Alice Maud Thompson
💍 1917/1520

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

21
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
19 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

650

George Alfred Thompson Father

1 March 1917

Registrar

No	97
Date of Notice	1 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Robert Cant	Dulcie Alice Maud Thompson
	💍 1917/1520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	650
Consent	George Alfred Thompson Father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

3 March 1917

James Woods
Mary Martha Elizabeth Le Comte

James Woods
Mary Martha Elizabeth Le Comte
💍 1917/1752

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
26

Sockburn
Spreydon

6 years
9 years

St. Martin's Church Lincoln Rd Spreydon

651

3 March 1917

Rev. C. C. Oldham Anglican

No	98
Date of Notice	3 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Woods	Mary Martha Elizabeth Le Comte
	💍 1917/1752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Sockburn	Spreydon
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Martin's Church Lincoln Rd Spreydon
Folio	651
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Oldham Anglican

3 March 1917

Harry Overton Bowron
Adelaide Ruby Phillips

Harry Overton Bowron
Adelaide Ruby Phillips
💍 1917/1763

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepbuyer

40
29

Timaru
Fendalton

15 years
8 years

St Barnabas' Church Fendalton

652

3 March 1917

Rev. T. A. Hamilton Anglican

No	99
Date of Notice	3 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Overton Bowron	Adelaide Ruby Phillips
	💍 1917/1763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepbuyer
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Fendalton
Length of Residence	15 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Barnabas' Church Fendalton
Folio	652
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Hamilton 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).