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 1997

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

314

6 June 1918

Lionel Claude Buckenham
Ella Louise Elvidge

Lionel Claude Buckenham
Ella Louisa Eldridge
💍 1918/1328

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Tailoress

24
23

Sydenham
Sydenham

4 years
17 years

St Saviours Church, Sydenham

1767

6 June 1918

Rev. H. B. Leach, Anglican

No	314
Date of Notice	6 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Claude Buckenham	Ella Louise Elvidge
BDM Match (93%)	Lionel Claude Buckenham	Ella Louisa Eldridge
	💍 1918/1328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Tailoress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church, Sydenham
Folio	1767
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Leach, Anglican

315

7 June 1918

Norman Gilmore Paterson
Martha McCallum

Norman Gilmore Paterson
Martha McCallum
💍 1918/1329

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Clerk

30
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
17 days

Knox Manse, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

1768

7 June 1918

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	315
Date of Notice	7 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Gilmore Paterson	Martha McCallum
	💍 1918/1329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Clerk
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	17 days
Marriage Place	Knox Manse, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	1768
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

316

7 June 1918

Alexander Paterson
Elsie Victoria Wilson

Alexander Paterson
Elsie Victoria Wilson
💍 1918/2421

Divorced Decree Absolute dated September 21, 1916
Spinster

Doctor of Dental Surgery
Dentist

46
31

Christchurch
Wellington

25 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

2001

7 June 1918

Rev. Kennedy Elliott, Presbyterian

No	316
Date of Notice	7 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Paterson	Elsie Victoria Wilson
	💍 1918/2421
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute dated September 21, 1916	Spinster
Profession	Doctor of Dental Surgery	Dentist
Age	46	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	2001
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Kennedy Elliott, Presbyterian

317

8 June 1918

Stanley Burdett Quaife
Olive Abigail McIlrath

Stanley Burdett Quaife
Olive Abigail McIlrath
💍 1918/1330

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1769

8 June 1918

Registrar

No	317
Date of Notice	8 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Burdett Quaife	Olive Abigail McIlrath
	💍 1918/1330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1769
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

318

10 June 1918

George Bridge
Rose Margaret Smith

George Cridge
Rose Margaret Smith
💍 1918/1332

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

28
28

New Brighton
New Brighton

4 days
8 months

Church of England, New Brighton

1770

10 June 1918

Rev. H. H. Mathias, Anglican

No	318
Date of Notice	10 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bridge	Rose Margaret Smith
BDM Match (96%)	George Cridge	Rose Margaret Smith
	💍 1918/1332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	4 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, New Brighton
Folio	1770
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Mathias, 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).