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 2011

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

382

15 July 1918

Albert Ernest Charles Lange
Violet Annie Donald

Albert Ernest Charles Lange
Violet Annie Donald
💍 1918/3896

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

18
18

St Albans
Papanui

14 years
9 years

Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch

3385

Ernest William Frederick Lange Father. William Jamieson Donald Father.

15 July 1918

Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian

No	382
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ernest Charles Lange	Violet Annie Donald
	💍 1918/3896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Papanui
Length of Residence	14 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	3385
Consent	Ernest William Frederick Lange Father. William Jamieson Donald Father.
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian

383

15 July 1918

Stanley Kruse
Doris Elizabeth Schumacher

Stanley Kruse
Doris Elizabeth Schumacher
💍 1918/3897

Bachelor
Spinster

French Polisher

24
22

Papanui
Papanui

22 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church Papanui

3386

15 July 1918

Rev D. D. Rodger Presbyterian

No	383
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Kruse	Doris Elizabeth Schumacher
	💍 1918/3897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	French Polisher
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Papanui
Folio	3386
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev D. D. Rodger Presbyterian

384

15 July 1918

Henry Edward Goldbeck
Elsie Maggie Isabell Firth

Henry Edward Coldbeck
Elsie Maggie Isabell Firth
💍 1918/3898

Widower June 2, 1913
Spinster

Carpenter
Nurse

55
40

Sydenham
Cashmere Hills

16 years
6 months

St Saviour's Church Sydenham

3387

15 July 1918

Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

No	384
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Goldbeck	Elsie Maggie Isabell Firth
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Edward Coldbeck	Elsie Maggie Isabell Firth
	💍 1918/3898
Condition	Widower June 2, 1913	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Nurse
Age	55	40
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Cashmere Hills
Length of Residence	16 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	3387
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

385

15 July 1918

Frederick Maynard Spellerberg
Edith Iris Prince

Frederick Maynard Spellerberg
Edith Iris Prince
💍 1918/3899

Widower November 12, 1916
Spinster

Company Manager

34
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
Life

St John's Church Christchurch

3388

15 July 1918

Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	385
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Maynard Spellerberg	Edith Iris Prince
	💍 1918/3899
Condition	Widower November 12, 1916	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	3388
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

386

15 July 1918

Albert Harold Clark
Marie Christina Newton

Albert Harold Clark
Manie Christina Newton
💍 1918/3900

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

37
19

Greenpark
Greenpark

4 months
5 months

St Mark's Church Greenpark

3389

Walter Rowland Newton Father.

15 July 1918

Rev H. A. Wilkinson Anglican

No	386
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Harold Clark	Marie Christina Newton
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Harold Clark	Manie Christina Newton
	💍 1918/3900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	19
Dwelling Place	Greenpark	Greenpark
Length of Residence	4 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Greenpark
Folio	3389
Consent	Walter Rowland Newton Father.
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. A. Wilkinson 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).