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 1923

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar A. L. 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

3 June 1918

Robert Ernest Hampton
Gladys Beresford Vigers

Robert Ernest Hampton
Gladys Beresford Vigers
💍 1918/3637

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier 40th Reinforcements
Domestic duties

34
24

Newlands
Elgin

2 days
6 years

Church of England Ashburton

3023

3 June 1918

Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	3 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ernest Hampton	Gladys Beresford Vigers
	💍 1918/3637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier 40th Reinforcements	Domestic duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Newlands	Elgin
Length of Residence	2 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	3023
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

4 June 1918

William Timms
Ada Laurina Marshall

William Timms
Ada Laurina Marshall
💍 1918/3638

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic duties

46
36

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 months
6 months

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

3024

4 June 1918

W. W. White, Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	4 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Timms	Ada Laurina Marshall
	💍 1918/3638
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	46	36
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	3024
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1918
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

1 June 1918

David Wilson Croy
Elsie Wright

David Wilson Croy
Elsie Wright
💍 1918/3639

William Robert Henry
Elsie Wright
💍 1919/968

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Nurse

31
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
6 days

At the residence of James Croy Allenton

3025

5 June 1918

Rev. G. Frost, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	1 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Wilson Croy	Elsie Wright
	💍 1918/3639
BDM Match (60%)	William Robert Henry	Elsie Wright
	💍 1919/968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Nurse
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	6 days
Marriage Place	At the residence of James Croy Allenton
Folio	3025
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Frost, Methodist

8 June 1918

Harold Edwin Curtis
Phoebe Fullerton Borthwick

Harold Edwin Curtis
Phoebe Fullerton Borthwick
💍 1918/3647

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Domestic duties

44
27

Ashburton
Hampstead Ashburton

3 days
5 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

3026

8 June 1918

Rev. Geo. Miller, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	8 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edwin Curtis	Phoebe Fullerton Borthwick
	💍 1918/3647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Domestic duties
Age	44	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	3026
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller, Presbyterian

8 June 1918

Alexander Anderson
Helena Gytha Collins

Alexander Anderson
Helena Gytha Collins
💍 1918/3658

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic duties

34
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
29 years

Methodist Church Ashburton

3027

8 June 1918

Rev. Geo Frost, Methodist

No	26
Date of Notice	8 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Anderson	Helena Gytha Collins
	💍 1918/3658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	3027
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Frost, Methodist

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).