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 2019

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

422

7 August 1918

Alfred Henry Williams
Margaret Murray Chapman

Alfred Henry Williams
Margaret Murray Chapman
💍 1918/4234

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Saleswoman

34
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St Paul's Church Christchurch

3424

7 August 1918

Rev Paterson Presbyterian

No	422
Date of Notice	7 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Williams	Margaret Murray Chapman
	💍 1918/4234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Saleswoman
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	3424
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Paterson Presbyterian

423

7 August 1918

Francis William Anderson
Lilian Beatrice Renner

Francis William Anderson
Lilian Beatrice Renner
💍 1918/4196

Bachelor
Widow Dec 10, 1916

Baker
Music Teacher

36
30

Christchurch
Cashmere Hills

20 years
1 year

St Saviour's Church Sydenham

3612

7 August 1918

Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

No	423
Date of Notice	7 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Anderson	Lilian Beatrice Renner
	💍 1918/4196
Condition	Bachelor	Widow Dec 10, 1916
Profession	Baker	Music Teacher
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Cashmere Hills
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	3612
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

424

8 August 1918

William John Melloy
Violet Ruth Tanner

William John Molloy
Violet Ruth Tanner
💍 1918/4235

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

31
24

Sydenham
Tai Tapu

5 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church Lincoln

3425

8 August 1918

Rev J. C. Paterson Presbyterian

No	424
Date of Notice	8 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Melloy	Violet Ruth Tanner
BDM Match (97%)	William John Molloy	Violet Ruth Tanner
	💍 1918/4235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Tai Tapu
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Lincoln
Folio	3425
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. C. Paterson Presbyterian

425

8 August 1918

Mordaunt Waller
Elizabeth Cecilia Bonisch

Mordaunt Waller
Elizabeth Cecilia Bonisch
💍 1918/3920

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
7 months

St Mary's Church Manchester Street Christchurch

3426

8 August 1918

Rev C. H. Seymour R.C.

No	425
Date of Notice	8 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mordaunt Waller	Elizabeth Cecilia Bonisch
	💍 1918/3920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	7 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Manchester Street Christchurch
Folio	3426
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C. H. Seymour R.C.

426

9 August 1918

George Blakeway Read
Annie Dunnage

George Blakeway Read
Annie Dunnage
💍 1918/3931

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

22
23

Linwood
Linwood

9 years
12 years

Holy Trinity Church Avonside

3427

9 August 1918

Rev V. Fitzgerald Anglican

No	426
Date of Notice	9 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Blakeway Read	Annie Dunnage
	💍 1918/3931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	9 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside
Folio	3427
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev V. Fitzgerald 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).