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 2003

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

344

24 June 1918

Cyril Richard Crocker
Anna Dorothea Becket Carmichael

Cyril Richard Crocker
Anna Dorothea Becker Carmichael
💍 1918/2233

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookbinder
Dressmaker

28
23

St Albans
Christchurch

5 years
7 years

St Pauls Church Christchurch

1795

24 June 1918

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	344
Date of Notice	24 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Richard Crocker	Anna Dorothea Becket Carmichael
BDM Match (98%)	Cyril Richard Crocker	Anna Dorothea Becker Carmichael
	💍 1918/2233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookbinder	Dressmaker
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church Christchurch
Folio	1795
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

345

24 June 1918

Henry Theodore Spencer
Louisa Augusta Rice

Henry Theodore Spencer
Louisa Augusta Rice
💍 1918/2234

Bachelor
Previously married but not heard of husband for 8 years last past

Lineman
Artist

33
37

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
4 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

1796

24 June 1918

Registrar

No	345
Date of Notice	24 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Theodore Spencer	Louisa Augusta Rice
	💍 1918/2234
Condition	Bachelor	Previously married but not heard of husband for 8 years last past
Profession	Lineman	Artist
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	1796
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

346

26 June 1918

William Rogers
Ellen Lucas

William Rogers
Ellen Lucas
💍 1918/2235

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister
Confectioner

38
46

Heathcote
Heathcote

3 years
5 years

St Mary's Church Heathcote

1797

26 June 1918

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	346
Date of Notice	26 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rogers	Ellen Lucas
	💍 1918/2235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister	Confectioner
Age	38	46
Dwelling Place	Heathcote	Heathcote
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Heathcote
Folio	1797
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

347

27 June 1918

Cyril William Matthew Gass
Frances Maud Bach

Cyril William Matthew Fass
Frances Maud Hack
💍 1918/2236

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

21
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

1798

27 June 1918

Registrar

No	347
Date of Notice	27 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril William Matthew Gass	Frances Maud Bach
BDM Match (92%)	Cyril William Matthew Fass	Frances Maud Hack
	💍 1918/2236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	1798
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

348

28 June 1918

William Jacques
Theresa Agnes Lavin

William Jacques
Theresa Agnes Lavin
💍 1918/3526

Widower July 16, 1911.
Spinster

Clerk of Works

68
46

Christchurch
Sumner Christchurch

40 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

2911

28 June 1918

Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	348
Date of Notice	28 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jacques	Theresa Agnes Lavin
	💍 1918/3526
Condition	Widower July 16, 1911.	Spinster
Profession	Clerk of Works
Age	68	46
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sumner Christchurch
Length of Residence	40 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	2911
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, 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).