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 1951

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 March 1918

Arthur George Chaney
Nellie Logan

Arthur George Chaney
Nellie Hogan
💍 1918/1084

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

30
25

Sydenham
Christchurch

1 day
25 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch

645

1 March 1918

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	91
Date of Notice	1 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Chaney	Nellie Logan
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur George Chaney	Nellie Hogan
	💍 1918/1084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 day	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch
Folio	645
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

1 March 1918

Lewis Angwin Tonkin
Philomena Mary Beckett

Lewis Angwin Tonkin
Philomena Mary Beckett
💍 1918/1085

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

22
20

Sydenham
Sydenham

22 years
12 years

St Saviour's Church, Sydenham

646

Mark Beckett, Father

1 March 1918

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	92
Date of Notice	1 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Angwin Tonkin	Philomena Mary Beckett
	💍 1918/1085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	22 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	646
Consent	Mark Beckett, Father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

1 March 1918

Harold William Seymour Voice
Ida May Leon

Harold William Seymour Voice
Ida May Seon
💍 1918/1086

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.

21
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
6 weeks

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

647

1 March 1918

Registrar

No	93
Date of Notice	1 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold William Seymour Voice	Ida May Leon
BDM Match (96%)	Harold William Seymour Voice	Ida May Seon
	💍 1918/1086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	647
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

2 March 1918

Seth William Henry Binks
Florence Mary Briggs

Seth William Henry Binks
Florence Mary Briggs Binks
💍 1918/1088

Bachelor
Spinster

Lather

31
30

New Brighton
Linwood

10 years
4 years

St John's Church, Christchurch

649

2 March 1918

Rev. H. H. Mathias

No	94
Date of Notice	2 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Seth William Henry Binks	Florence Mary Briggs
BDM Match (88%)	Seth William Henry Binks	Florence Mary Briggs Binks
	💍 1918/1088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lather
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Linwood
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	649
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Mathias

2 March 1918

George Farrar
Ivy Robina Cowan

George Farrar
Ivy Robina Cowan
💍 1918/1087

Bachelor
Spinster

Wire-worker

24
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch

648

Robert Cowan, Father

2 March 1918

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	95
Date of Notice	2 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Farrar	Ivy Robina Cowan
	💍 1918/1087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wire-worker
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	648
Consent	Robert Cowan, Father
Date of Certificate	2 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, 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).