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 1921

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar C. W. White

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

6 April 1918

George Alexander Eyles
Louisa Laura Kirby

George Alexander Eyles
Trinzea Laura Kirdy
💍 1918/3628

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

36
21

Tinwald
Tinwald

15 years
20 years

Church of England Tinwald

3015

6 April 1918

Rev H. B. Jones, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	6 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Eyles	Louisa Laura Kirby
BDM Match (82%)	George Alexander Eyles	Trinzea Laura Kirdy
	💍 1918/3628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Tinwald
Folio	3015
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Jones, Church of England

6 April 1918

Felix Holguizan
Ellen Daly

Felix McGuigan
Ellen Daly
💍 1918/3835

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
28

Chertsey
Hinds

34 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church Hinds

3248

6 April 1918

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	6 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Holguizan	Ellen Daly
BDM Match (83%)	Felix McGuigan	Ellen Daly
	💍 1918/3835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Chertsey	Hinds
Length of Residence	34 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hinds
Folio	3248
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

8 April 1918

Michael Joseph Dwyer
Catherine Anastasia Daly

Michael Joseph Dwyer
Catherine Anastasia Doly
💍 1918/3870

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

26
26

Winchmore
Hinds

26 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church Hinds

3249

8 April 1918

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	8 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Joseph Dwyer	Catherine Anastasia Daly
BDM Match (98%)	Michael Joseph Dwyer	Catherine Anastasia Doly
	💍 1918/3870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Winchmore	Hinds
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hinds
Folio	3249
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

10 April 1918

Henry Slater Richards
Hazel Victoria Jamieson

Henry Slater Richards
Hazel Victoria Jamieson
💍 1918/3629

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

33
19

Valetta
Ashburton

4 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church Springburn

3016

James Jamieson father of Minor

10 April 1918

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	10 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Slater Richards	Hazel Victoria Jamieson
	💍 1918/3629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Valetta	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Springburn
Folio	3016
Consent	James Jamieson father of Minor
Date of Certificate	10 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

10 April 1918

Stanley John Knox Elliott
Rita Elizabeth Wilson

Stanley John Knox Elliott
Reta Elizabeth Wilson
💍 1918/3630

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
domestic duties

21
20

Ashburton
Tinwald

21 years
20 years

Church of England Ashburton

3017

Thomas Wilson father of Minor

10 April 1918

Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	10 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley John Knox Elliott	Rita Elizabeth Wilson
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley John Knox Elliott	Reta Elizabeth Wilson
	💍 1918/3630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	3017
Consent	Thomas Wilson father of Minor
Date of Certificate	10 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

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).