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 1990

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

254

12 May 1917

Eric James White
Elsie Alma Pettigrew

Eric James White
Elsie Alma Pettigrew
💍 1917/2902

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days

St. Stephen's Church Hills Rd Shirley

2129

12 May 1917

Rev. L. Hard Anglican

No	254
Date of Notice	12 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric James White	Elsie Alma Pettigrew
	💍 1917/2902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence		3 days
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church Hills Rd Shirley
Folio	2129
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Hard Anglican

255

14 May 1917

William Alexander Henderson
Myrtle Jane Hall

William Alexander Henderson
Myrtle Jane Hall
💍 1917/2903

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Milliner

25
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year

Residence of Mr Campbell 25 Bath St. Christchurch

2130

14 May 1917

Rev. R. Erwin Presbyterian

No	255
Date of Notice	14 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Henderson	Myrtle Jane Hall
	💍 1917/2903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Milliner
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence		1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Campbell 25 Bath St. Christchurch
Folio	2130
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin Presbyterian

256

14 May 1917

Hugh George Tiplady
Margaret McIntosh

Hugh George Tiplady
Margaret McIntosh
💍 1917/2905

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Waitress

24
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
9 months

Residence of Mrs Read 161 Bealey St. Linwood

2132

Donald McIntosh Father

14 May 1917

Rev. A. Liversedge Methodist

No	256
Date of Notice	14 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh George Tiplady	Margaret McIntosh
	💍 1917/2905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Waitress
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Read 161 Bealey St. Linwood
Folio	2132
Consent	Donald McIntosh Father
Date of Certificate	14 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Liversedge Methodist

257

15 May 1917

Leonard Roy Hurrell
Pearl Meleise Pine

Leonard Roy Hurrell
Pearl Meleise Pine
💍 1917/2906

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (Bank Clerk)
Clerk

23
23

Riccarton
St. Albans

2 days
23 years

St. Mary's Church Merivale

2133

15 May 1917

Rev. E. H. Shore Anglican

No	257
Date of Notice	15 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Roy Hurrell	Pearl Meleise Pine
	💍 1917/2906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (Bank Clerk)	Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	2133
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Shore Anglican

258

15 May 1917

Henry Kiver Anderson Allison
Muriel Gladys Ward

Henry Kiver Allison
Muriel Gladys Ward
💍 1917/2907

Bachelor
Spinster

Captain N.Z. Dental Corps.
Insurance Clerk

34
27

Christchurch
St. Albans

2 days
7 years

Residence of Rev. C. E. Ward 116 Canon St. St. Albans

2134

15 May 1917

Rev. C. E. Ward Methodist

No	258
Date of Notice	15 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Kiver Anderson Allison	Muriel Gladys Ward
BDM Match (84%)	Henry Kiver Allison	Muriel Gladys Ward
	💍 1917/2907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Captain N.Z. Dental Corps.	Insurance Clerk
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. E. Ward 116 Canon St. St. Albans
Folio	2134
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward Methodist

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).