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 2083

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

707

31 December 1917

Augustus Trivett Hamilton
Rose Mary Woods

Augustus Trivett Hamilton
Rose Mary Woods
💍 1918/729

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

20
20

Springston South
Springston South

20 years
5 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

16/1918

Enoch Hamilton Father, Joseph Woods Father

31 December 1917

Registrar

No	707
Date of Notice	31 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Trivett Hamilton	Rose Mary Woods
	💍 1918/729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Springston South	Springston South
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	16/1918
Consent	Enoch Hamilton Father, Joseph Woods Father
Date of Certificate	31 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

708

31 December 1917

Thomas Edwin Cairns
Pearl Victoria Downing

Thomas Edwin Cairns
Pearl Victoria Downing
💍 1918/730

Bachelor
Spinster

Sugar boiler

22
19

Addington
Addington

22 years
19 years

St Mary's Church Addington

17/1918

Eli Downing Father

31 December 1917

Rev W. B Bean Anglican

No	708
Date of Notice	31 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edwin Cairns	Pearl Victoria Downing
	💍 1918/730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sugar boiler
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	17/1918
Consent	Eli Downing Father
Date of Certificate	31 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev W. B Bean Anglican

709

31 December 1917

Herbert Theakston Mellish
Emily Harden

Herbert Theakston Mellish
Emily Harden
💍 1918/731

Divorced Decree absolute granted 17th Feb 1917
Spinster

Window cleaner

35
23

Sydenham
Addington

5 years
4 years

Residence of Mr H. Ball 200 Hazeldean Road Sydenham

18/1918

31 December 1917

Mr R Gebbie Church of Christ

No	709
Date of Notice	31 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Theakston Mellish	Emily Harden
	💍 1918/731
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute granted 17th Feb 1917	Spinster
Profession	Window cleaner
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Addington
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H. Ball 200 Hazeldean Road Sydenham
Folio	18/1918
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Mr R Gebbie Church of Christ

710

31 December 1917

Selwyn Rouse Jackson
Alice Edith Isherwood

Selwyn Rouse Jackson
Alice Edith Isherwood
💍 1918/732

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
29

Fendalton
Sydenham

3 weeks
6 days

Anglican Church Fendalton

19/1918

31 December 1917

Rev A. J. Hamilton Anglican

No	710
Date of Notice	31 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Selwyn Rouse Jackson	Alice Edith Isherwood
	💍 1918/732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Fendalton
Folio	19/1918
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Hamilton Anglican

711

31 December 1917

Reginald James Kingsland
Myrtle Augustia Savage

Reginald James Kingsland
Myrtle Augustia Savage
💍 1918/734

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

27
23

Linwood
Linwood

3 weeks
12 months

St John's Church Christchurch

20/1918

31 December 1917

Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	711
Date of Notice	31 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald James Kingsland	Myrtle Augustia Savage
	💍 1918/734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 weeks	12 months
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	20/1918
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).