Intentions to Marry, 1918 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840479, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 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.

1918e contains pages 1647-2188, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 1795

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar S. Tyson

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

27 February 1918

Edgar Charles Russell
Myra Lucy Ching

Edgar Charles Russell
Myra Lucy Ching
💍 1918/1778

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Domestic duties

34
23

Nelson
Stoke

3 years
23 years

St. Barnabas Church, Stoke

18/1313

27 February 1918

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	27 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Charles Russell	Myra Lucy Ching
	💍 1918/1778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Stoke
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Stoke
Folio	18/1313
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

4 March 1918

Albert Upchurch
Mary Alice Wilson

Albert Upchurch
Mary Alice Wilson
💍 1918/1779

Widower 10/1/1909
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

41
23

Nelson
Nelson

5 days
6 weeks

Registrar's Office, Nelson

18/1314

4 March 1918

Mr.. S. Tyson Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	4 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Upchurch	Mary Alice Wilson
	💍 1918/1779
Condition	Widower 10/1/1909	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	41	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	18/1314
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr.. S. Tyson Registrar

5 March 1918

Robert Lloyd
Frances Emily Caroline Hope

Robert Lloyd
Frances Emily Caroline Hope
💍 1918/1780

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic duties

25
29

Nelson
French Pass

3 days
29 years

Residence of Mr. Edward Hope, French Pass

18/1315

5 March 1918

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	5 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lloyd	Frances Emily Caroline Hope
	💍 1918/1780
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Nelson	French Pass
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Edward Hope, French Pass
Folio	18/1315
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

9 March 1918

Lewis Edward Henry Baigent
Florence May Jackson

Lewis Edward Henry Baigent
Florence May Jackson
💍 1918/1781

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Merchant
Dental Mechanic

30
22

Nelson
Nelson

30 years
22 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

18/1316

9 March 1918

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	9 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Edward Henry Baigent	Florence May Jackson
	💍 1918/1781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Merchant	Dental Mechanic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	18/1316
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

12 March 1918

George Petersen
Edith Shipley

George Petersen
Edith Shipley
💍 1918/1782

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

24
20

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
2 years

Registrar's Office, Nelson

18/1317

X consent

12 March 1918

Miss L. E. Moulder, Deputy Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Petersen	Edith Shipley
	💍 1918/1782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	18/1317
Consent	X consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Miss L. E. Moulder, Deputy Registrar

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).