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 1963

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

151

26 March 1918

Frank Sanders
Wilhelmina Louisa Raaff

Frank Sanders
Wilhelmina Louisa Raaff
💍 1918/371

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Book-binder

24
26

Riccarton
Sydenham

19 years
16 years

St John's Church Christchurch

704

26 March 1918

Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	151
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Sanders	Wilhelmina Louisa Raaff
	💍 1918/371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Book-binder
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Sydenham
Length of Residence	19 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	704
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

152

26 March 1918

George Edward Hocking
Amelia Eliza Ditfort

George Edward Hocking
Amelia Eliza Ditfort
💍 1918/372

Widower
Spinster

Confectioner
Packer

33
21

Spreydon
Christchurch

33 years
21 years

St Saviours Church Sydenham

705

26 March 1918

Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

No	152
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Hocking	Amelia Eliza Ditfort
	💍 1918/372
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Packer
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Christchurch
Length of Residence	33 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church Sydenham
Folio	705
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

153

26 March 1918

Joseph William Denver Thompson
Mona Armsby McKenzie

Joseph William Denvir Thompson
Mona Arnsby McKenzie
💍 1918/373

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

28
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

706

James Bernard McKenzie Father

26 March 1918

Rev J. Long Roman Catholic

No	153
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Denver Thompson	Mona Armsby McKenzie
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph William Denvir Thompson	Mona Arnsby McKenzie
	💍 1918/373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	706
Consent	James Bernard McKenzie Father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Long Roman Catholic

154

26 March 1918

Alfred Ernest Hancock
Edith Hughes

Alfred Ernest Hancock
Edith Hughes
💍 1918/374

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
37

Sydenham
Sydenham

1 year
3 weeks

St Saviours Church Sydenham

707

26 March 1918

Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

No	154
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Hancock	Edith Hughes
	💍 1918/374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	37
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 year	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church Sydenham
Folio	707
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

155

27 March 1918

William Furneaux
Annie Renton Ritchie

William Furneaux
Annie Penten Ritchie
💍 1918/2001

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Clerk

25
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
8 years

Residence of Mrs L. E. Coe 18 Flockton Street, St Albans

1515

27 March 1918

Rev J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	155
Date of Notice	27 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Furneaux	Annie Renton Ritchie
BDM Match (95%)	William Furneaux	Annie Penten Ritchie
	💍 1918/2001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs L. E. Coe 18 Flockton Street, St Albans
Folio	1515
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson Presbyterian

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).