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 2016

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

372

16 July 1917

Arthur Rochead Prichard
Elizabeth Withers

Arthur Rochead Prichard
Elizabeth Withers
💍 1917/4230

Widower, February 1909
Widow, October 1912

Storekeeper

46
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
1 year

St. Mary's Church Merivale

3503

16 July 1917

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	372
Date of Notice	16 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Rochead Prichard	Elizabeth Withers
	💍 1917/4230
Condition	Widower, February 1909	Widow, October 1912
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	46	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	3503
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

373

16 July 1917

Marshall Henry Robinson
Wilhelmina Louisa Lindroos

Marshall Henry Robinson
Wilhelmina Louisa Lindroos
💍 1917/132

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
27

Sumner
Sumner

8 1/2 years
16 years

Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch

3643

16 July 1917

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	373
Date of Notice	16 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Marshall Henry Robinson	Wilhelmina Louisa Lindroos
	💍 1917/132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Sumner
Length of Residence	8 1/2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	3643
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

374

16 July 1917

Thomas Edward Madden
Mary Helen Sloane

Thomas Edward Madden
Mary Helen Sloan
💍 1917/4777

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

22
23

Riccarton
Sydenham

2 years
Life

Church of the Sacred Heart Addington

4153

16 July 1917

Rev. A. O'Hare, Roman Catholic

No	374
Date of Notice	16 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Madden	Mary Helen Sloane
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Edward Madden	Mary Helen Sloan
	💍 1917/4777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart Addington
Folio	4153
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O'Hare, Roman Catholic

375

16 July 1917

John Joseph Pope
Abina McCarthy

John Joseph Pope
Abina McCarthy
💍 1917/4231

Bachelor
Spinster

Firebrigadesman
Waitress

28
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
12 months

St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch

3504

16 July 1917

Rev. P. Regnault, Roman Catholic

No	375
Date of Notice	16 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Pope	Abina McCarthy
	💍 1917/4231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Firebrigadesman	Waitress
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Manchester St. Christchurch
Folio	3504
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault, Roman Catholic

376

17 July 1917

Arthur Gould
Amy Beatrice Hamilton

Arthur Hould
Amy Beatrice Hamilton
💍 1917/4516

Widower, 20.5.1914
Spinster

Clerk
Qualified Nurse

43
26

Christchurch
Wellington

5 years

St. Peter's Church Wellington

3716

19 July 1917

Rev. H. W. Watson, Anglican

No	376
Date of Notice	17 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Gould	Amy Beatrice Hamilton
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Hould	Amy Beatrice Hamilton
	💍 1917/4516
Condition	Widower, 20.5.1914	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Qualified Nurse
Age	43	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Wellington
Folio	3716
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Watson, 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).