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 2125

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J. J. Cameron

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

16 January 1918

Jose aguirre
Eva Koskela

Jose Aguirre
Eva Koskela
💍 1918/1921

Bachelor
Widow 11/8/1910

Ships fireman
Domestic

44
42

at present Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
1 year

St Josephs Roman Catholic Church at Lyttelton

1358

16 January 1918

Rev. J. Cooney Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	16 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jose aguirre	Eva Koskela
BDM Match (96%)	Jose Aguirre	Eva Koskela
	💍 1918/1921
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 11/8/1910
Profession	Ships fireman	Domestic
Age	44	42
Dwelling Place	at present Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St Josephs Roman Catholic Church at Lyttelton
Folio	1358
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cooney Roman Catholic

5 February 1918

Clarence Frederick Cummins
Ivy Maude Tredennick

Clarence Frederick Cummins
Ivy Maude Tredennick
💍 1918/823

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller
Saleswoman

26
23

Wellington
Lyttelton

-
23 years

Registrars Office Wellington

186

5 February 1918

Registrar of Marriages Wellington

No	2
Date of Notice	5 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Frederick Cummins	Ivy Maude Tredennick
	💍 1918/823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller	Saleswoman
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	-	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	186
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Wellington

12 February 1918

Frank Mowatt
Maude Marion Shrimpton

Frank Mowatt
Maude Marion Shrimpton
💍 1918/1922

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Dressmaker

27
29

usual Wellington Present at Sea
Lyttelton

-
29 years

Holy Trinity Church of England Lyttelton

1359

12 February 1918

Rev. P. J. Hewland Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	12 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Mowatt	Maude Marion Shrimpton
	💍 1918/1922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	usual Wellington Present at Sea	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	-	29 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England Lyttelton
Folio	1359
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Hewland Anglican

12 March 1918

Henry Robert Harris
Annie Firmston

Henry Robert Harris
Annie Firmston
💍 1918/1899

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

38
31

Teddington Lyttelton
Teddington Lyttelton

12 years

Anglican Church West Lyttelton

1360

12 March 1918

Rev. E. Eliot-Chambers Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robert Harris	Annie Firmston
	💍 1918/1899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	38	31
Dwelling Place	Teddington Lyttelton	Teddington Lyttelton
Length of Residence	12 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church West Lyttelton
Folio	1360
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Eliot-Chambers Anglican

19 March 1918

Sidney Herbert Wood
Sarah Alice Mather

Sidney Herbert Wood
Sarah Alice Mather
💍 1918/1900

Widower Jan. 1-1918
Spinster

Customs Officer
Dressmaker

56
26

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 years
26 years

Bridgrooms Dwelling Reserve Terrace Lyttelton

1361

20 March 1918

Rev John E. Parsons Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	19 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Herbert Wood	Sarah Alice Mather
	💍 1918/1900
Condition	Widower Jan. 1-1918	Spinster
Profession	Customs Officer	Dressmaker
Age	56	26
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Bridgrooms Dwelling Reserve Terrace Lyttelton
Folio	1361
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev John E. Parsons Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).