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 2009

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

372

9 July 1918

Joseph Ernest Nicholson
Margaret Meta Catherine Boscher

Joseph Ernest Nicholson
Margaret Meta Catherine Boschen Hooper
💍 1918/3895

Bachelor
Divorced

Chemist
Dressmaker

32
31

Christchurch
Papanui

6 years
Life

Methodist Church Durham Street Christchurch

3376

9 July 1918

Rev P. N. Knight Methodist

No	372
Date of Notice	9 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ernest Nicholson	Margaret Meta Catherine Boscher
BDM Match (91%)	Joseph Ernest Nicholson	Margaret Meta Catherine Boschen Hooper
	💍 1918/3895
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Chemist	Dressmaker
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham Street Christchurch
Folio	3376
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. N. Knight Methodist

373

9 July 1918

Gilbert Berthon Brown
Lavinia Louisa Horne

Gilbert Berthon Brown
Louisa Lavinia Horne
💍 1918/3906

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Saleswoman

36
30

Fendalton
St Albans

25 years
16 years

Holy Trinity Church Avonside Christchurch

3377

9 July 1918

Rev U. Fitzgerald Anglican

No	373
Date of Notice	9 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Berthon Brown	Lavinia Louisa Horne
BDM Match (80%)	Gilbert Berthon Brown	Louisa Lavinia Horne
	💍 1918/3906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Saleswoman
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	St Albans
Length of Residence	25 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside Christchurch
Folio	3377
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev U. Fitzgerald Anglican

374

9 July 1918

William Joshua Shearman
Emily Harrison

William Joshua Shearman
Emily Harrison
💍 1918/3913

Bachelor
Spinster

Independent Means

45
26

St Albans
St Albans

12 years
18 years

St Matthew's Church Christchurch

3378

9 July 1918

Rev H. Hoare Anglican

No	374
Date of Notice	9 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joshua Shearman	Emily Harrison
	💍 1918/3913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Independent Means
Age	45	26
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church Christchurch
Folio	3378
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Hoare Anglican

375

10 July 1918

Leonard Arthur George Victor Straw
Gertrude Jane Rodgers

Leonard Arthur George Victor Craw
Gertrude Jane Rodgers
💍 1918/3914

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
19

Christchurch
Riccarton

3 days
3 months

St James' Church Riccarton

3379

Daniel McLay Rodgers, Father

10 July 1918

Rev G. W. Christian Anglican

No	375
Date of Notice	10 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Arthur George Victor Straw	Gertrude Jane Rodgers
BDM Match (97%)	Leonard Arthur George Victor Craw	Gertrude Jane Rodgers
	💍 1918/3914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St James' Church Riccarton
Folio	3379
Consent	Daniel McLay Rodgers, Father
Date of Certificate	10 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. Christian Anglican

376

10 July 1918

Alexander Andrew Graham
Alice Maud Wills

Alexander Andrew Graham
Alice Maud Wills
💍 1918/3915

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Pastrycook Decorator

27
32

Woolston
Christchurch

26 years
32 years

St Michael's Church Christchurch

3380

10 July 1918

Rev C. E. Perry Anglican

No	376
Date of Notice	10 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Andrew Graham	Alice Maud Wills
	💍 1918/3915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Pastrycook Decorator
Age	27	32
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	3380
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C. E. Perry 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).