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 2029

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

472

30 August 1918

William Daniel Barrett
Mere Rihiani Ruru

William Daniel Barrett
Mere Rihiani Ruru
💍 1918/3957

Widower March 23 1915
Spinster

Native Land Court Agent

40
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Christchurch

3471

30 August 1918

Registrar

No	472
Date of Notice	30 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Daniel Barrett	Mere Rihiani Ruru
	💍 1918/3957
Condition	Widower March 23 1915	Spinster
Profession	Native Land Court Agent
Age	40	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	3471
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

473

30 August 1918

Eric Adolphus Illingworth
Rita Levona Hulme

Eric Adolphus Illingworth
Rita Levona Hulme
💍 1918/3958

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Milliner

21
19

Woolston
Linwood

9 years
19 years

St Mark's Church Opawa

3472

Ocean Annie Hulme Mother

30 August 1918

Rev. H. Williams Anglican

No	473
Date of Notice	30 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Adolphus Illingworth	Rita Levona Hulme
	💍 1918/3958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Milliner
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Linwood
Length of Residence	9 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Opawa
Folio	3472
Consent	Ocean Annie Hulme Mother
Date of Certificate	30 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams Anglican

474

31 August 1918

Bert Waddington
Flora Isabel Selfe

Bert Waddington
Flora Isabel Selfe
💍 1918/3959

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner's Machinist

25
21

Papanui
Burwood

11 years
21 years

All Saints Church Burwood

3473

31 August 1918

Rev. C. A. Tobin Anglican

No	474
Date of Notice	31 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Waddington	Flora Isabel Selfe
	💍 1918/3959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner's Machinist
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Burwood
Length of Residence	11 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Burwood
Folio	3473
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Tobin Anglican

475

31 August 1918

William Jackson Huddlestone
Emily Jane Fuller

William Jackson Huddlestone
Emily Jane Fuller
💍 1918/3960

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor's chainman

24
25

Marshland
Marshland

1 year
Life

Registrar's Office Christchurch

3474

31 August 1918

Registrar

No	475
Date of Notice	31 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jackson Huddlestone	Emily Jane Fuller
	💍 1918/3960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor's chainman
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Marshland
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	3474
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

476

31 August 1918

Arnold Sharp
Mary Violet Freeman Stanton

Arnold Sharp
Mary Violet Freeman Stanton
💍 1918/3961

Bachelor
Spinster

Student Teacher

27
29

Christchurch
Fendalton

12 months
2 years

Residence of Mr G. M. Marriott 50 Wairarapa Terrace Fendalton

3475

31 August 1918

Rev. W. Beckett Methodist

No	476
Date of Notice	31 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Sharp	Mary Violet Freeman Stanton
	💍 1918/3961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Student Teacher
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Fendalton
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. M. Marriott 50 Wairarapa Terrace Fendalton
Folio	3475
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).