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 2043

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

539

1 October 1918

Joseph Retallack Collins
Annie Bassett Liddicoat

Joseph Retallack Collins
Annie Bassett Liddicoat
💍 1918/5295

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

47
38

Linwood
Linwood

6 months
5 years

Congregational Manse, 2 Frederick Street, Linwood

4901

1 October 1918

Rev. B. A. Job, Congregationalist

No	539
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Retallack Collins	Annie Bassett Liddicoat
	💍 1918/5295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	47	38
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Manse, 2 Frederick Street, Linwood
Folio	4901
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. A. Job, Congregationalist

540

1 October 1918

Joseph Young Scales
Dorothy Inez White

Joseph Young Scales
Dorothy Inez White
💍 1918/5306

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager

25
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
14 days

St. John's Church, Christchurch

4902

1 October 1918

Rev. J. F. Heron, Anglican

No	540
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Young Scales	Dorothy Inez White
	💍 1918/5306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	4902
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Heron, Anglican

541

1 October 1918

Robert Ernest Cairns
Frances Alice Miller

Robert Ernest Cairns
Frances Alice Miller
💍 1918/5313

Bachelor
Widow September 18, 1917

Butcher

29
35

Opawa
Opawa

1 week
1 week

Residence of Mr. A. Thomson, 4 Hornbrook Street, Opawa

4903

1 October 1918

Rev. J. K. Parsons, Methodist

No	541
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ernest Cairns	Frances Alice Miller
	💍 1918/5313
Condition	Bachelor	Widow September 18, 1917
Profession	Butcher
Age	29	35
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Opawa
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Thomson, 4 Hornbrook Street, Opawa
Folio	4903
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Parsons, Methodist

542

1 October 1918

Lewis Kilworth
Mary Alice Disher

Lewis Kilworth
Mary Alice Disher
💍 1918/5314

Bachelor
Spinster

Pattern-maker
Dressmaker

48
48

Christchurch
Sydenham

4 months
42 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

4904

1 October 1918

Registrar

No	542
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Kilworth	Mary Alice Disher
	💍 1918/5314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pattern-maker	Dressmaker
Age	48	48
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 months	42 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	4904
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

543

1 October 1918

Harry Bertram Thompson
Amelia Cox

Harry Bertram Thompson
Amelia Cox
💍 1918/5315

Divorced Decree Absolute dated Sep 19, 1918
Spinster

Painter

33
27

Marshland
Marshland

12 months
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

4905

1 October 1918

Registrar

No	543
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Bertram Thompson	Amelia Cox
	💍 1918/5315
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute dated Sep 19, 1918	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Marshland
Length of Residence	12 months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	4905
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).