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 1979

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

224

22 April 1918

Reginald Alfred Perry Francis
Dorothy Mensley Piper

Reginald Alfred Perry Francis
Dorothy Wensley Pipere
💍 1918/2167

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
24

Merivale
Linwood

6 years
13 years

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

1681

22 April 1918

Rev O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	224
Date of Notice	22 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Alfred Perry Francis	Dorothy Mensley Piper
BDM Match (95%)	Reginald Alfred Perry Francis	Dorothy Wensley Pipere
	💍 1918/2167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Merivale	Linwood
Length of Residence	6 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	1681
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

225

22 April 1918

William Ernest Clarkson
Estina Emerald Earnshaw

William Ernest Clarkson
Estina Emerald Earnshaw
💍 1918/2168

Widower June 19, 1911
Spinster

Clerk
Cook

33
25

Woolston
Linwood

7 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1682

22 April 1918

Registrar

No	225
Date of Notice	22 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Clarkson	Estina Emerald Earnshaw
	💍 1918/2168
Condition	Widower June 19, 1911	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Cook
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Linwood
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1682
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

226

23 April 1918

Walter Samuel Richard Barnes
Frances Sarah Bone

Walter Samuel Richard Barnes
Frances Sarah Bone
💍 1918/2169

Bachelor
Spinster

Packer
Machinist

21
20

St Albans
Richmond

21 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1683

Frederick Joseph Bone, Father

23 April 1918

Registrar

No	226
Date of Notice	23 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Samuel Richard Barnes	Frances Sarah Bone
	💍 1918/2169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Packer	Machinist
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Richmond
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1683
Consent	Frederick Joseph Bone, Father
Date of Certificate	23 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

227

23 April 1918

Wilfred Brian Fitchett
Amelia Margaret Bush

Wilfred Brian Fitchett
Amelia Margaret Bush
💍 1918/2170

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

26
20

Christchurch
Spreydon

11 years

St Mary's Church, Addington

1684

George Bush, Father

23 April 1918

Rev H. B. Bean, Anglican

No	227
Date of Notice	23 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Brian Fitchett	Amelia Margaret Bush
	💍 1918/2170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence		11 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	1684
Consent	George Bush, Father
Date of Certificate	23 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Bean, Anglican

228

23 April 1918

Arthur Thain
Mary Meehan

Arthur Thain
Mary Meehan
💍 1918/2147

Bachelor
Spinster

Returned Soldier

41
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 months
10 months

Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes Street, Christchurch

1685

23 April 1918

Rev J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	228
Date of Notice	23 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thain	Mary Meehan
	💍 1918/2147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Returned Soldier
Age	41	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes Street, Christchurch
Folio	1685
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Kennedy, 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).