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 2067

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

659

17 December 1918

Bertram Gordon Hall (commonly known as Bertram Gordon Bosworth)
Olive Mary Bosworth

Bertram Gordon Bosworth
Olive Mary Bosworth
💍 1918/5425

Bachelor
Spinster

Brassfinisher

29
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
36 years

Methodist Church, Linwood

5015

17 December 1918

Rev. L. Hudson, Methodist

No	659
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Gordon Hall (commonly known as Bertram Gordon Bosworth)	Olive Mary Bosworth
BDM Match (68%)	Bertram Gordon Bosworth	Olive Mary Bosworth
	💍 1918/5425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brassfinisher
Age	29	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Linwood
Folio	5015
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Hudson, Methodist

660

17 December 1918

Daniel Victor Wilson
Hilda Maria Thomson

Daniel Victor Wilson
Hilda Maria Thomson
💍 1918/5426

Bachelor
Spinster

Stoneman
Machinist

21
25

Linwood
Woolston

12 years
20 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

5016

17 December 1918

Registrar

No	660
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Victor Wilson	Hilda Maria Thomson
	💍 1918/5426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stoneman	Machinist
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Woolston
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	5016
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

661

17 December 1918

George Alfred Samuel Matthias
Vira Winifred Perry

George Alfred Samuel Matthias
Vera Winifred Perry
💍 1918/5427

Widower November 20, 1916
Spinster

Commercial Representative

50
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
12 years

Residence of Rev. J. Paterson 346 Worcester St: Christchurch

5017

17 December 1918

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	661
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Samuel Matthias	Vira Winifred Perry
BDM Match (97%)	George Alfred Samuel Matthias	Vera Winifred Perry
	💍 1918/5427
Condition	Widower November 20, 1916	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Representative
Age	50	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Paterson 346 Worcester St: Christchurch
Folio	5017
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

662

17 December 1918

Walter Cooke Prosser
Dorothy Edith Sutton

Walter Cook Grosser
Dorothy Edith Tutron
💍 1918/5428

Bachelor
Spinster

Grain Buyer

26
19

Blenheim
Christchurch

9 months
4 days

St. Mary's Church Merivale

5018

Emily Doris Sutton, Mother

17 December 1918

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	662
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Cooke Prosser	Dorothy Edith Sutton
BDM Match (90%)	Walter Cook Grosser	Dorothy Edith Tutron
	💍 1918/5428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grain Buyer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	5018
Consent	Emily Doris Sutton, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

663

17 December 1918

John O'Donnell
Doris Verner Radcliffe

John O'Donnell
Doris Verner Radcliffs
💍 1918/5429

Bachelor
Spinster

Enginedriver

34
18

Riccarton
Riccarton

8 months
4 months

St. Peter's Church Riccarton

5019

Mary Jane Radcliffe, Mother

17 December 1918

Rev. H. J. York, Anglican

No	663
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Donnell	Doris Verner Radcliffe
BDM Match (98%)	John O'Donnell	Doris Verner Radcliffs
	💍 1918/5429
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Enginedriver
Age	34	18
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	8 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Riccarton
Folio	5019
Consent	Mary Jane Radcliffe, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. York, 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).