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 2039

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

522

24 September 1918

Matthew Hopkins
Martha McClintock Gordon

Matthew Hopkins
Martha McClintock Gordon
💍 1918/1431

Widower (March 28, 1918)
Widow (December 17, 1908)

Railway Employee

49
43

Linwood
Linwood

10 years
6 months

Residence of Mr. Burgess, 17 Woodham Road, Linwood

3520

24 September 1918

Rev. J. M. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	522
Date of Notice	24 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Hopkins	Martha McClintock Gordon
	💍 1918/1431
Condition	Widower (March 28, 1918)	Widow (December 17, 1908)
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	49	43
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	10 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Burgess, 17 Woodham Road, Linwood
Folio	3520
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. McDonald, Presbyterian

523

24 September 1918

William Berry
Grace Lavinia Ringdahl

William Berry
Grace Ivy Lavinia Ringdahl
💍 1918/1432

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
18

Sydenham
St Albans

6 years
1 year

St Andrew's Church, Christchurch

3521

Alfred Ringdahl, Father

24 September 1918

Rev. J. Rule, Presbyterian

No	523
Date of Notice	24 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Berry	Grace Lavinia Ringdahl
BDM Match (92%)	William Berry	Grace Ivy Lavinia Ringdahl
	💍 1918/1432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	St Albans
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3521
Consent	Alfred Ringdahl, Father
Date of Certificate	24 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rule, Presbyterian

524

25 September 1918

Frederick Clark Owen
Ethel May Guise

Frederick Clark Owen
Ethel May Guise
💍 1918/1434

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

43
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
Life

St Mary's Church, Addington

3522

25 September 1918

Rev. W. B. Bean, Anglican

No	524
Date of Notice	25 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Clark Owen	Ethel May Guise
	💍 1918/1434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	43	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	3522
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Bean, Anglican

525

25 September 1918

Boyd Thompson Stanley
Wilhelmina Gunn

Boyd Thomson Stanley
Wilhelmina Gunn
💍 1918/1435

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

24
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
1 year

St David's Church, Sydenham

3523

25 September 1918

Rev. J. Dickson, Presbyterian

No	525
Date of Notice	25 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Boyd Thompson Stanley	Wilhelmina Gunn
BDM Match (98%)	Boyd Thomson Stanley	Wilhelmina Gunn
	💍 1918/1435
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St David's Church, Sydenham
Folio	3523
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dickson, Presbyterian

526

25 September 1918

Ernest William Scarr
Margery May Arthur

Ernest William Scarr
Margery May Arthur
💍 1918/1436

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Shop Assistant

19
20

Fendalton
Papanui

19 years
7 years

Residence of Mr. H. A. Arthur, corner Harewood and Papanui Roads, Papanui

3524

Alfred William Scarr Father; Mary Ann Arthur Mother

25 September 1918

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	526
Date of Notice	25 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Scarr	Margery May Arthur
	💍 1918/1436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Shop Assistant
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Papanui
Length of Residence	19 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. A. Arthur, corner Harewood and Papanui Roads, Papanui
Folio	3524
Consent	Alfred William Scarr Father; Mary Ann Arthur Mother
Date of Certificate	25 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

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).