Intentions to Marry, 1917 Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840474, 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.

1917f contains pages 2197-2786, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Page 2245

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar W. Wilson

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

2 January 1917

William Arthur Ernest Tiffin
Gladys Victoria Joyce

William Arthur Ernest Fiffen
Gladys Victoria Joyce
💍 1917/2189

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

22
19

Mahikihi
Waimate

22 years
19 years

Presbyterian church, Waimate

1328

Frank Joyce, Father

2 January 1917

Rev Alexander Samuel Morrison, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Ernest Tiffin	Gladys Victoria Joyce
BDM Match (96%)	William Arthur Ernest Fiffen	Gladys Victoria Joyce
	💍 1917/2189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Mahikihi	Waimate
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian church, Waimate
Folio	1328
Consent	Frank Joyce, Father
Date of Certificate	2 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Alexander Samuel Morrison, Presbyterian

19 January 1917

John Monro Scott
Kathleen Frances Buchanan

John Scott
Kathleen Frances Buchanan
💍 1917/2152

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic duties

22
23

Pentland Hills, Waimate
Temuka

1 year
10 years

Church of England, Timaru

1315

19 January 1917

Rev John Henry Rogers, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Monro Scott	Kathleen Frances Buchanan
BDM Match (81%)	John Scott	Kathleen Frances Buchanan
	💍 1917/2152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Pentland Hills, Waimate	Temuka
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Timaru
Folio	1315
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev John Henry Rogers, Church of England

31 January 1917

George Phillips
Margaret Campbell

George Phillips
Margaret Campbell
💍 1917/2190

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootrepairer
Domestic duties

19
21

Waimate
Waimate

19 years
21 years

Presbyterian manse, Waimate

1329

Clara Phillips, mother

31 January 1917

Rev Alexander Samuel Morrison, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	31 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Phillips	Margaret Campbell
	💍 1917/2190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootrepairer	Domestic duties
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	19 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian manse, Waimate
Folio	1329
Consent	Clara Phillips, mother
Date of Certificate	31 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Alexander Samuel Morrison, Presbyterian

21 March 1917

Gilbert John Bird
Hannah Isabel Bradley

Gilbert John Bird
Hannah Isabel Bradley
💍 1917/2191

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
27

Studholme Junction
Waimate

4 years
3 years

Methodist Church, Waimate

1330

21 March 1917

Rev George Frederick Stockwell, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	21 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert John Bird	Hannah Isabel Bradley
	💍 1917/2191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Studholme Junction	Waimate
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Waimate
Folio	1330
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev George Frederick Stockwell, Methodist

24 March 1917

Alexander Smith Laird
Charlotte Marion Bird

Alexander Smith Laird
Charlotte Marion Bird
💍 1917/2379

Widower
Spinster

Architect
Hospital Matron

53
41

Taumarunui
Waimate

13 years
2 weeks

Residence of the Brides Parent, Waimate

1593

24 March 1917

Rev Edmund Thomas King, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	24 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Smith Laird	Charlotte Marion Bird
	💍 1917/2379
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Hospital Matron
Age	53	41
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Waimate
Length of Residence	13 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of the Brides Parent, Waimate
Folio	1593
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Edmund Thomas King, 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).