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 1955

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

111

12 March 1918

Harry Fraser Gould
Lily Maud Highsted

Harry Fraser Coull
Lily Maud Highsted
💍 1918/330

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
26

St Albans
Christchurch

21 years
3 years

Residence of Mr J Highsted 218 Bealey Avenue Christchurch

664

12 March 1918

Rev A. C. Lawry, Methodist

No	111
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Fraser Gould	Lily Maud Highsted
BDM Match (94%)	Harry Fraser Coull	Lily Maud Highsted
	💍 1918/330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J Highsted 218 Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	664
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. C. Lawry, Methodist

112

12 March 1918

William Edward Shunnock
Matilda Campbell

William Edward Shurrock
Matilda Campbell
💍 1918/331

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal Turner and Fitter
Costumier

28
30

Addington
Addington

5 years
16 years

St Mary's Church Addington

665

12 March 1918

Rev H. S. Bean, Anglican

No	112
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Shunnock	Matilda Campbell
BDM Match (96%)	William Edward Shurrock	Matilda Campbell
	💍 1918/331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal Turner and Fitter	Costumier
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	5 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	665
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Bean, Anglican

113

13 March 1918

William Frederick Waite
Ellen McGuire

William Frederick Waite
Ellen McGuire
💍 1918/332

Widower January 24, 1918
Widow January 3, 1918

Ship's Cook

70
60

Christchurch
Christchurch

35 years
35 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

666

13 March 1918

Registrar

No	113
Date of Notice	13 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Waite	Ellen McGuire
	💍 1918/332
Condition	Widower January 24, 1918	Widow January 3, 1918
Profession	Ship's Cook
Age	70	60
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	35 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	666
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

114

13 March 1918

Frederick Menneer
Ivy Annie Chapman Treveech

Frederick Menneer
Ivy Annie Chapman Treweek
💍 1918/333

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Clerk

26
29

St Albans
Cashmere

4 months
4 days

St Paul's Church Christchurch

667

13 March 1918

Rev J Paterson, Presbyterian

No	114
Date of Notice	13 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Menneer	Ivy Annie Chapman Treveech
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Menneer	Ivy Annie Chapman Treweek
	💍 1918/333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Clerk
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Cashmere
Length of Residence	4 months	4 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	667
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Paterson, Presbyterian

115

14 March 1918

Harry Darnley Noonan
Elizabeth Frances Fanning

Harry Darnley Noonan
Elizabeth Frances Fanning
💍 1918/334

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
32

Linwood
Linwood

8 days
31 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

668

14 March 1918

Rev J Long, Roman Catholic

No	115
Date of Notice	14 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Darnley Noonan	Elizabeth Frances Fanning
	💍 1918/334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	8 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	668
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Long, Roman Catholic

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).