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 1984

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

225

21 April 1917

Ellis Livesey
Annie Shaw

Ellis Livesey
Annie Shaw
💍 1917/2957

Bachelor
Spinster

Biscuit Worker
Laundress

36
37

St. Albans
Sumner

4 years
5 years

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

2101

24 April 1917

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	225
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ellis Livesey	Annie Shaw
	💍 1917/2957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Biscuit Worker	Laundress
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Sumner
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	2101
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

226

21 April 1917

Norman Francis McLean
Elizabeth Esther Tinnelly

Norman Francis McLean
Elizabeth Esther Tinnelley
💍 1917/2968

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

29
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 months
15 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

2102

24 April 1917

Rev. J. Hanrahan, R.C.

No	226
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Francis McLean	Elizabeth Esther Tinnelly
BDM Match (98%)	Norman Francis McLean	Elizabeth Esther Tinnelley
	💍 1917/2968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	2102
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hanrahan, R.C.

227

21 April 1917

Frederick Reginald Trent
Henrietta Margaret Cumberland

Frederick Reginald Trent
Henrietta Margaret Cumberland
💍 1917/2975

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent
Music Teacher

33
28

St Albans
New Brighton

4 years
7 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

2103

21 April 1917

Registrar

No	227
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Reginald Trent	Henrietta Margaret Cumberland
	💍 1917/2975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent	Music Teacher
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	St Albans	New Brighton
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	2103
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

228

21 April 1917

Alfred Henry Jago
Violet Jessie Fraser

Alfred Henry Jago
Violet Jessie Fraser
💍 1917/2976

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Machinist

19
20

Woolston
Woolston

16 years
6 months

St. Saviours Church Sydenham

2104

Thos Fredk. Jago, Father; Kate McLaughlin, Guardian

21 April 1917

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	228
Date of Notice	21 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Jago	Violet Jessie Fraser
	💍 1917/2976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	16 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church Sydenham
Folio	2104
Consent	Thos Fredk. Jago, Father; Kate McLaughlin, Guardian
Date of Certificate	21 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

229

25 April 1917

Frederick Rockett
Ethel Barnes Nowell

Frederick Rockett
Ethel Barnes Nowell
💍 1917/2977

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Schoolteacher

52
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
2 months

St Augustine's Church Cashmere

2105

25 April 1917

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	229
Date of Notice	25 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Rockett	Ethel Barnes Nowell
	💍 1917/2977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Schoolteacher
Age	52	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Cashmere
Folio	2105
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, 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).