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 2135

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar J. Beswick

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

10 May 1917

John Edward Jory
Ivy Lena Slater

John Edward Jorey
Ivy Lena Slater
💍 1917/4055

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Tailoress

29
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

29 years
25 years

Methodist Church Lyttelton

3079

10 May 1917

Rev. J. C. Parsons Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	10 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Jory	Ivy Lena Slater
BDM Match (97%)	John Edward Jorey	Ivy Lena Slater
	💍 1917/4055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Tailoress
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Lyttelton
Folio	3079
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Parsons Methodist

21 May 1917

Fergus Mackenzie
Marjory Birse Smith

Fergus MacKenzie
Marjory Birse Smith
💍 1917/4056

Bachelor
Spinster

Able Seaman
Confectionery Packer

21
19

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
19 years

In the dwelling of Catherine Smith Oxford Street Lyttelton

3080

Catherine Smith Mother

21 May 1917

Rev. J. C. Parsons Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	21 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fergus Mackenzie	Marjory Birse Smith
BDM Match (97%)	Fergus MacKenzie	Marjory Birse Smith
	💍 1917/4056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Able Seaman	Confectionery Packer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of Catherine Smith Oxford Street Lyttelton
Folio	3080
Consent	Catherine Smith Mother
Date of Certificate	21 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Parsons Methodist

31 May 1917

William Arthur McPherson
Lily Maude Vercoe

William Arthur McPherson
Lily Maud Vercoe
💍 1917/4057

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

34
33

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office at Lyttelton

3081

31 May 1917

J. Beswick Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	31 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur McPherson	Lily Maude Vercoe
BDM Match (97%)	William Arthur McPherson	Lily Maud Vercoe
	💍 1917/4057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Lyttelton
Folio	3081
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1917
Officiating Minister	J. Beswick Registrar

2 June 1917

David Marshall
Olive Maud Lewin

David Marshall
Olive Maud Lewin
💍 1917/4108

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Switchboard Attendant

26
30

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

18 months
30 years

St Saviour's Anglican Church Lyttelton

3322

2 June 1917

Rev. E. Eliot Chambers Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	2 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Marshall	Olive Maud Lewin
	💍 1917/4108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Switchboard Attendant
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	18 months	30 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Anglican Church Lyttelton
Folio	3322
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Eliot Chambers Anglican

22 June 1917

Samuel John Richardson
Annie Elizabeth Pentney

Samuel John Richardson
Annie Elizabeth Pentney
💍 1917/4058

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Seamstress

30
26

Lyttelton (Usually at Sea)
Lyttelton

6 hours
20 years

Holy Trinity Anglican Church Lyttelton

3082

22 June 1917

Rev. P. K. Hewland Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	22 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel John Richardson	Annie Elizabeth Pentney
	💍 1917/4058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Seamstress
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton (Usually at Sea)	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	6 hours	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Anglican Church Lyttelton
Folio	3082
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. K. Hewland 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).