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 1965

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

161

27 March 1918

Thomas Forbes
Rose May Gregory

Thomas Forbes
Rose May Gregory
💍 1918/356

Bachelor
Widow

Carter

27
29

Linwood
Sydenham

27 years
4 weeks

Residence of Rev H. A. Job, 2 Frederick Street Linwood

713

27 March 1918

Rev H. A. Job, Congregational

No	161
Date of Notice	27 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Forbes	Rose May Gregory
	💍 1918/356
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carter
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Sydenham
Length of Residence	27 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev H. A. Job, 2 Frederick Street Linwood
Folio	713
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. A. Job, Congregational

162

27 March 1918

Robert Houghton
Ivy Alice Grey

Robert Houghton
Ivy Alice Grey
💍 1918/2002

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Dressmaker

26
23

Linwood
Sydenham

26 years
23 years

St Paul's Church, Christchurch

1516

27 March 1918

Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	162
Date of Notice	27 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Houghton	Ivy Alice Grey
	💍 1918/2002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Dressmaker
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Sydenham
Length of Residence	26 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1516
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

163

28 March 1918

Clarence William Frederick Higgott
Anita Pearl Helen Hinemoa Mararoa Kaituna Parkin

Clarence William Frederick Higgott
Anita Pearl Helen Hinemoa Mararoa Kaitina Parkin
💍 1918/357

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Milliner

24
21

Linwood
St Albans

18 years
4 years

St Matthew's Church, St Albans

714

28 March 1918

Rev R. Hone, Anglican

No	163
Date of Notice	28 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence William Frederick Higgott	Anita Pearl Helen Hinemoa Mararoa Kaituna Parkin
BDM Match (99%)	Clarence William Frederick Higgott	Anita Pearl Helen Hinemoa Mararoa Kaitina Parkin
	💍 1918/357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Milliner
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	St Albans
Length of Residence	18 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, St Albans
Folio	714
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Hone, Anglican

164

28 March 1918

Ernest Rodwell Moore
Violet Marian Roberts

Ernest Rodwell Mato
Violet Marian Roberts
💍 1918/358

Bachelor
Spinster

Fencer
Machinist

30
31

St Albans
Sydenham

3 days
31 years

Baptist Church, Sydenham

715

28 March 1918

Rev L. B. Busfield, Baptist

No	164
Date of Notice	28 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Rodwell Moore	Violet Marian Roberts
BDM Match (90%)	Ernest Rodwell Mato	Violet Marian Roberts
	💍 1918/358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fencer	Machinist
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Sydenham
Folio	715
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev L. B. Busfield, Baptist

165

28 March 1918

Herbert Arthur Wild
Katie Priscilla Harrison

Herbert Arthur Wild
Katie Priscilla Harrison
💍 1918/359

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

32
31

Merivale
New Brighton

4 years
31 years

St Mary's Church, Merivale

716

28 March 1918

Rev P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	165
Date of Notice	28 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Arthur Wild	Katie Priscilla Harrison
	💍 1918/359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Merivale	New Brighton
Length of Residence	4 years	31 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	716
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. B. Haggitt, 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).