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 1993

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

294

30 May 1918

Harold Miller
Maude Amelia Liddiard

Harold Miller
Maude Amelia Liddiard
💍 1918/2210

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Assistant Storekeeper

25
24

Christchurch
Sumner

25 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Sumner

1747

30 May 1918

Rev W. J. Williams, Methodist

No	294
Date of Notice	30 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Miller	Maude Amelia Liddiard
	💍 1918/2210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Assistant Storekeeper
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sumner
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Sumner
Folio	1747
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. J. Williams, Methodist

295

30 May 1918

Walter James McDonald Redwood
Jeanie Lochhead Fleming

Walter James McDonald Redwood
Jeanie Lochhead Fleming
💍 1918/2211

Bachelor
Spinster

Missionary

25
25

St Albans
St Albans

6 weeks
7 years

Residence of Mr A. C. Fleming, 16 Rugby Street, St Albans

1748

30 May 1918

Rev R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	295
Date of Notice	30 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James McDonald Redwood	Jeanie Lochhead Fleming
	💍 1918/2211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Missionary
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	6 weeks	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr A. C. Fleming, 16 Rugby Street, St Albans
Folio	1748
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Erwin, Presbyterian

296

31 May 1918

Henry Morgan Taylor
Gwen Williams

Henry Morgan Taylor
Given Williams
💍 1918/2212

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years

St Barnabas Church, Fendalton

1749

31 May 1918

Rev T. A. Hamilton, Anglican

No	296
Date of Notice	31 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Morgan Taylor	Gwen Williams
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Morgan Taylor	Given Williams
	💍 1918/2212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence		23 years
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	1749
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev T. A. Hamilton, Anglican

297

31 May 1918

Thomas Falconer Mullen
Lizzie White

Thomas Falconer Muller
Lizzie White
💍 1918/2213

Bachelor
Widow January 5, 1910

Soldier

26
36

Sydenham
Christchurch

2 weeks
2 years

St John's Church, Christchurch

1750

31 May 1918

Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	297
Date of Notice	31 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Falconer Mullen	Lizzie White
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Falconer Muller	Lizzie White
	💍 1918/2213
Condition	Bachelor	Widow January 5, 1910
Profession	Soldier
Age	26	36
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1750
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

298

1 June 1918

Walter Scott Hindmarsh
Kathleen McCormack

Walter Scott Hindmarsh
Kathleen McCormack
💍 1918/1320

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Draper's Assistant

25
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
16 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

1751

1 June 1918

Rev J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	298
Date of Notice	1 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Scott Hindmarsh	Kathleen McCormack
	💍 1918/1320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Draper's Assistant
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	1751
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 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).