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 2087

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar P. J. Eccleston

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

3/18

13 May 1918

Arthur Silvester Palmore
Mildred Caroline Young

Arthur Silvester Podmore
Mildred Caroline Young
💍 1918/3670

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army officer
Salvation Army officer

29
20

Ashburton
Leeston

1 day
20 years

Salvation Army Hall Leeston

3033

James Young, father

13 May 1918

Major E. G. Newby

No	3/18
Date of Notice	13 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Silvester Palmore	Mildred Caroline Young
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Silvester Podmore	Mildred Caroline Young
	💍 1918/3670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army officer	Salvation Army officer
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Leeston
Length of Residence	1 day	20 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall Leeston
Folio	3033
Consent	James Young, father
Date of Certificate	13 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Major E. G. Newby

4/18

14 May 1918

Eric John Alexander
Florence Edith Peck

Eric John Ulander
Florence Edith Pick
💍 1918/3671

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Typiste

23
20

Dunsandel
Dunsandel

4 days
21 days

St James Church Dunsandel

3034

Horace James Peck, father

14 May 1918

Rev. H. G. Hawkins

No	4/18
Date of Notice	14 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric John Alexander	Florence Edith Peck
BDM Match (89%)	Eric John Ulander	Florence Edith Pick
	💍 1918/3671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Typiste
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dunsandel	Dunsandel
Length of Residence	4 days	21 days
Marriage Place	St James Church Dunsandel
Folio	3034
Consent	Horace James Peck, father
Date of Certificate	14 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Hawkins

5/18

16 May 1918

Albert Edward Duffell
Edith Rose Vince

Albert Edward Duffull
Edith Rose Vince
💍 1918/3648

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

39
28

Leeston
Lakeside

8 years
24 years

Anglican Church Sedgemere

3035

16 May 1918

Rev. H. G. Hawkins

No	5/18
Date of Notice	16 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Duffell	Edith Rose Vince
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Edward Duffull	Edith Rose Vince
	💍 1918/3648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Lakeside
Length of Residence	8 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Sedgemere
Folio	3035
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Hawkins

6/18

10 June 1918

Thomas John Carter
Florence Rita Greenwood

Thomas John Carter
Florence Rita Greenwood
💍 1918/3649

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapery salesman
Domestic

25
22

Southbridge
Southbridge

25 years
22 years

Anglican Church Southbridge

3036

10 June 1918

Rev. H. G. Hawkins

No	6/18
Date of Notice	10 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Carter	Florence Rita Greenwood
	💍 1918/3649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapery salesman	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Southbridge
Folio	3036
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Hawkins

7/18

11 June 1918

Cecil Graham Chamberlain
Mary Agnes Leahy

Cecil Graham Chamberlain
Mary Agnes Leahy
💍 1918/3650

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
17

Lakeside
Lakeside

21 years
17 years

Roman Catholic Church Leeston

3037

A. Leahy, mother

11 June 1918

Father T. Creed

No	7/18
Date of Notice	11 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Graham Chamberlain	Mary Agnes Leahy
	💍 1918/3650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Lakeside	Lakeside
Length of Residence	21 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Leeston
Folio	3037
Consent	A. Leahy, mother
Date of Certificate	11 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Father T. Creed

8/18

15 June 1918

Anders Jensen
Florence Irene Ball

Anders Jensen
Florence Irene Batt
💍 1918/3651

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

39
27

Christchurch
Southbridge

3 days
8 days

Presbyterian Church Southbridge

3038

15 June 1918

Rev. J. S. Reid

No	8/18
Date of Notice	15 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anders Jensen	Florence Irene Ball
BDM Match (95%)	Anders Jensen	Florence Irene Batt
	💍 1918/3651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Southbridge
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Southbridge
Folio	3038
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Reid

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).