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 1807

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar G. 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

18 November 1918

Leonard Cyril Bovey
Ivy Savina Phipps

Leonard Cyril Bovey
Ivy Savina Phipps
💍 1918/6285

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter
Domestic

24
21

Nelson
Nelson

7 months
7 months

Baptist Church, Nelson

18/5987

18 November 1918

Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

No	58
Date of Notice	18 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Cyril Bovey	Ivy Savina Phipps
	💍 1918/6285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	18/5987
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

20 November 1918

Leonard Riethe
Hilda Annie Bartlett

Leonard Niethe
Hilda Annie Bartlett
💍 1918/6286

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
28

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
28 years

Baptist Church, Nelson

18/5988

20 November 1918

Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

No	59
Date of Notice	20 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Riethe	Hilda Annie Bartlett
BDM Match (96%)	Leonard Niethe	Hilda Annie Bartlett
	💍 1918/6286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	18/5988
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

26 November 1918

Eric Vincent Robb
Queenie Ruby Russo

Eric Vincent Robb
Queenie Ruby Russo
💍 1918/6287

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

21
23

Nelson
Nelson

15 years
2 years

Dwelling of James Douglas Robb, Waimea Street, Nelson

18/5989

26 November 1918

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	26 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Vincent Robb	Queenie Ruby Russo
	💍 1918/6287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of James Douglas Robb, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	18/5989
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

26 November 1918

Raynor Ashton Ching
Frances Mary Bashford

Raynor Ashton Ching
Francis Mary Bashford
💍 1918/6288

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

34
32

Stoke
Stoke

34 years
7 days

St. Barnabas Church, Stoke

18/5990

26 November 1918

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	61
Date of Notice	26 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raynor Ashton Ching	Frances Mary Bashford
BDM Match (98%)	Raynor Ashton Ching	Francis Mary Bashford
	💍 1918/6288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	34 years	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Stoke
Folio	18/5990
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

29 November 1918

Arthur Herbert Collingwood
Doris Evelyn Edith Vere Graham

Arthur Herbert Collingwood
Doris Evelyn Edith Vere Graham
💍 1918/6289

Bachelor
Spinster

Gold mining Engineer
Domestic

39
23

Nelson
Nelson

1 month
13 years

Dwelling of Jane Edith Julia Ellis Graham, Bridge Street, Nelson

18/5991

29 November 1918

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	62
Date of Notice	29 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Herbert Collingwood	Doris Evelyn Edith Vere Graham
	💍 1918/6289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gold mining Engineer	Domestic
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 month	13 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Jane Edith Julia Ellis Graham, Bridge Street, Nelson
Folio	18/5991
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, 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).