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 1959

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

131

22 March 1918

James Joseph Anderson
Doris Hope Tamblyn

James Joseph Anderson
Doris Hope Tamblyn
💍 1918/1121

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Nurse

28
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

St David's Manse, 234 Colombo Street, Christchurch

684

22 March 1918

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	131
Date of Notice	22 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Anderson	Doris Hope Tamblyn
	💍 1918/1121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Nurse
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St David's Manse, 234 Colombo Street, Christchurch
Folio	684
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

132

22 March 1918

Fred Blewett
Harriet Eva Preston

Fred Blewitt
Harriet Eva Preston
💍 1918/1098

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Employee

38
25

Linwood
Styx

5 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Papanui

685

22 March 1918

Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	132
Date of Notice	22 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Blewett	Harriet Eva Preston
BDM Match (96%)	Fred Blewitt	Harriet Eva Preston
	💍 1918/1098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Employee
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Styx
Length of Residence	5 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Papanui
Folio	685
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

133

22 March 1918

Lawrence William Ranger
Isabella Girvin

Lawrence William Ranger
Isabella Girvin
💍 1918/1099

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

26
34

St Albans
St Albans

7 years
4 years

Residence of Rev. J. Paterson, 346 Worcester Street, Christchurch

686

22 March 1918

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	133
Date of Notice	22 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence William Ranger	Isabella Girvin
	💍 1918/1099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	26	34
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Paterson, 346 Worcester Street, Christchurch
Folio	686
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

134

23 March 1918

Barton Oswald Victor Hoskin
Marian Baldwin

Barton Oswald Victor Hoskin
Marian Baldwin
💍 1918/1100

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

22
21

Petone
Christchurch

3 months
3 days

Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

Wellington 687

23 March 1918

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	134
Date of Notice	23 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Barton Oswald Victor Hoskin	Marian Baldwin
	💍 1918/1100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	Wellington 687
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

135

23 March 1918

Alec Cole
Violet Edith Hawdon Davison

Alec Cole
Violet Edith Hawton Davison
💍 1918/1101

Bachelor
Spinster

Officer, Mercantile Marine

32
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

-
3 days

St Paul's Church, Papanui

688

23 March 1918

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	135
Date of Notice	23 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alec Cole	Violet Edith Hawdon Davison
BDM Match (98%)	Alec Cole	Violet Edith Hawton Davison
	💍 1918/1101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Officer, Mercantile Marine
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	-	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	688
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

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).