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 2047

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

559

7 October 1918

Norman Thomas White
Violet Emma Line

Norman Thomas White
Violet Emma Line
💍 1918/5307

Bachelor
Spinster

Rope-maker

18
19

Christchurch
Addington

7 years
Life

Residence of Mrs W. Line, 327 Selwyn Street, Addington

4920

Lizzie Mullan formerly White, Mother. William Line, Father.

7 October 1918

Capt. Gill Inglis, Salvation Army

No	559
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Thomas White	Violet Emma Line
	💍 1918/5307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rope-maker
Age	18	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Addington
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs W. Line, 327 Selwyn Street, Addington
Folio	4920
Consent	Lizzie Mullan formerly White, Mother. William Line, Father.
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Capt. Gill Inglis, Salvation Army

560

8 October 1918

John Thomas Bloor
Julia Miriam Wells

John Thomas Bloor
Julia Miriam Wells
💍 1918/5308

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch

4921

8 October 1918

Rev J. Cocker, Methodist

No	560
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Bloor	Julia Miriam Wells
	💍 1918/5308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	4921
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Cocker, Methodist

561

8 October 1918

William George Black
Annie Margaret McMahon

William George Black
Annie Margaret McCahon
💍 1918/5309

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
21

Duvauchelle
Christchurch

9 months
15 months

St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch

4922

8 October 1918

Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	561
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Black	Annie Margaret McMahon
BDM Match (98%)	William George Black	Annie Margaret McCahon
	💍 1918/5309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Duvauchelle	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	15 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	4922
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

562

8 October 1918

Stuart Hamilton Whiteside
Dorothea Frances Devereux

Stuart Hamilton Whiteside
Dorothea Frances Devereux
💍 1918/5310

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Typiste

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 weeks
15 years

Methodist Church, Addington

4923

8 October 1918

Rev J. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	562
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stuart Hamilton Whiteside	Dorothea Frances Devereux
	💍 1918/5310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Typiste
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 weeks	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Addington
Folio	4923
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. W. Vealie, Methodist

563

8 October 1918

William Shearer
Josephine Tronchet Davidson

William Shearer
Josephine Trochet Davidson
💍 1918/5311

Widower June 26, 1916.
Spinster

Farmer

39
28

Prebbleton
Addington

3 years
2 years Addington

Residence of Mrs J. E. C. Davidson, Braddon Street, Addington

4924

8 October 1918

Rev J. Cocker, Methodist

No	563
Date of Notice	8 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Shearer	Josephine Tronchet Davidson
BDM Match (98%)	William Shearer	Josephine Trochet Davidson
	💍 1918/5311
Condition	Widower June 26, 1916.	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Prebbleton	Addington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years Addington
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. E. C. Davidson, Braddon Street, Addington
Folio	4924
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Cocker, Methodist

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).