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 1960

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

105

6 March 1917

Arthur Smith
Annie Almea Poulsen

Arthur Smith
Annie Almea Poulsen
💍 1917/1775

Widower August 3, 1906
Widow October 19, 1914

Railway Porter

33
32

Linwood
Christchurch

10 years
4 years

Church of England, Opawa

658

6 March 1917

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	105
Date of Notice	6 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Smith	Annie Almea Poulsen
	💍 1917/1775
Condition	Widower August 3, 1906	Widow October 19, 1914
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Opawa
Folio	658
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

106

6 March 1917

David Deans Conway
Daisy McDowell

David Deans Conway
Daisy McDowell
💍 1917/1776

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

24
24

Norwood
Norwood

3 months
4 days

Residence of Robert McDowell, Norwood

659

6 March 1917

Rev. J. S. Reid (of Dunsandel), Presbyterian

No	106
Date of Notice	6 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Deans Conway	Daisy McDowell
	💍 1917/1776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Norwood	Norwood
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert McDowell, Norwood
Folio	659
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Reid (of Dunsandel), Presbyterian

107

7 March 1917

Richard Henry Rankin
Ruby Victoria Robina Partridge

Richard Henry Rankin
Ruby Victoria Robini Partridge
💍 1917/1753

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder and Contractor

37
27

Christchurch
Linwood

8 years
27 years

St Andrews Church, Christchurch

660

7 March 1917

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	107
Date of Notice	7 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Rankin	Ruby Victoria Robina Partridge
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Henry Rankin	Ruby Victoria Robini Partridge
	💍 1917/1753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder and Contractor
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	8 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Christchurch
Folio	660
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

108

7 March 1917

Stanley Edward Bull
Gladys Maude Winter

Stanley Edward Bull
Gladys Maude Winter
💍 1917/1754

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Bootmaker's Fitter

26
24

Spreydon
Waltham

26 years
24 years

St Saviour's Church, Sydenham

661

7 March 1917

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	108
Date of Notice	7 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Edward Bull	Gladys Maude Winter
	💍 1917/1754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Bootmaker's Fitter
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Waltham
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	661
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

109

8 March 1917

Allan William Hooker
Etta May Gourlay

Allan William Hooper
Etta May Gourlay
💍 1917/1755

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Clerk

26
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
3 weeks

St Andrews Church, Christchurch

662

8 March 1917

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	109
Date of Notice	8 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan William Hooker	Etta May Gourlay
BDM Match (98%)	Allan William Hooper	Etta May Gourlay
	💍 1917/1755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Clerk
Age	26	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Christchurch
Folio	662
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, 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).