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 1943

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

1 February 1918

Isaac Cecil Ward
Myrtle Ellen Grey

Isaac Cecil Ward
Myrtle Ellen Grey
💍 1918/321

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter Carrier
Tailoress

19
18

Christchurch
Waltham

7 months
5 years

Church of England Avonside

606

Isaac Ward, Father; Edmund Joseph Grey, Father

1 February 1918

Rev. Fitzgerald Anglican

No	51
Date of Notice	1 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Cecil Ward	Myrtle Ellen Grey
	💍 1918/321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter Carrier	Tailoress
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Waltham
Length of Residence	7 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Avonside
Folio	606
Consent	Isaac Ward, Father; Edmund Joseph Grey, Father
Date of Certificate	1 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fitzgerald Anglican

4 February 1918

William Henry Duke
Margaret Shannahan

William Henry Duke
Margaret Shannahan
💍 1918/322

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

31
32

Styx
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

607

4 February 1918

Rev. J. A. Kennedy Roman Catholic

No	52
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Duke	Margaret Shannahan
	💍 1918/322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Styx	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	607
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy Roman Catholic

4 February 1918

Thomas Lindsay Brown
Elizabeth Hatton

Thomas Lindsay Brown
Elizabeth Hatton
💍 1918/323

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Saleswoman

28
37

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
4 years

St John's Church Christchurch

608

4 February 1918

Rev. P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	53
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lindsay Brown	Elizabeth Hatton
	💍 1918/323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Saleswoman
Age	28	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	608
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks Anglican

4 February 1918

Herbert Lawrence Ryan
Florence Fanny James

Herbert Laurence Ryan
Florence Fanny James
💍 1918/324

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Waitress

36
25

St Albans
St Albans

10 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

609

4 February 1918

Rev. J. Hanrahan Roman Catholic

No	54
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Lawrence Ryan	Florence Fanny James
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Laurence Ryan	Florence Fanny James
	💍 1918/324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Waitress
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	609
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hanrahan Roman Catholic

4 February 1918

Leonard Francis Blewett
Leonora Sorrell

Leonard Francis Blewett
Leonora Sorrell
💍 1918/301

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Secretary

28
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
8 years

Methodist Church Durham Street Christchurch

610

4 February 1918

Rev. P. Knight Methodist

No	55
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Francis Blewett	Leonora Sorrell
	💍 1918/301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Secretary
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham Street Christchurch
Folio	610
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).