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 1939

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1918

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

22 January 1918

George Martin Papps
Henrietta Ford

George Martin Papps
Henrietta Ford
💍 1918/205

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Classer

29
22

Riccarton
Christchurch

11 months
4 years

Residence of Mr R Wilson, Harrow St, Linwood

586

22 January 1918

Rev J M'Donald, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	22 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Martin Papps	Henrietta Ford
	💍 1918/205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Classer
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R Wilson, Harrow St, Linwood
Folio	586
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J M'Donald, Presbyterian

22 January 1918

Edward Cyril James Iles
Sybil May Gorton

Edward Cyril James Iles
Sybil May Gorton
💍 1918/206

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

20
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
14 years

St John's Church, Christchurch

587

Edward Iles, Father

22 January 1918

Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	22 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Cyril James Iles	Sybil May Gorton
	💍 1918/206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	587
Consent	Edward Iles, Father
Date of Certificate	22 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

23 January 1918

George William Gillespie
Constance Mona Whithair

George William Gillespie
Constance Mena Whithair
💍 1918/207

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

19
29

New Brighton
Spreydon

11 years
1 month

St Saviour's Church, Sydenham

588

William Gillespie, Father

23 January 1918

Rev W. S. Leach, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	23 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Gillespie	Constance Mona Whithair
BDM Match (98%)	George William Gillespie	Constance Mena Whithair
	💍 1918/207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	19	29
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Spreydon
Length of Residence	11 years	1 month
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	588
Consent	William Gillespie, Father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. S. Leach, Anglican

23 January 1918

Herbert Harold Stephens
Catherine Cecily Kelliher

Herbert Harold Stephens
Catherine Cecily Kelliher
💍 1918/208

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Dressmaker

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 months
4 months

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

589

23 January 1918

Rev J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	34
Date of Notice	23 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Harold Stephens	Catherine Cecily Kelliher
	💍 1918/208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	589
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

23 January 1918

Evenden Leith
Julia Beatrice Krakoski

Evender Leith
Julia Beatrice Krakoski
💍 1918/209

Divorced Decree Absolute granted Aug 3rd 1908
Spinster

Yardman

48
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

44 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

590

23 January 1918

Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	23 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Evenden Leith	Julia Beatrice Krakoski
BDM Match (96%)	Evender Leith	Julia Beatrice Krakoski
	💍 1918/209
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute granted Aug 3rd 1908	Spinster
Profession	Yardman
Age	48	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	44 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	590
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1918
Officiating Minister	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).