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 2074

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

694

30 December 1918

David John Smith
Mabel Martin

David John Smith
Mabel Martin
💍 1919/267

Bachelor
Spinster

Chaff-cutting Contractor
Clerk

25
21

Upper Riccarton
Lower Riccarton

5 years
21 years

St Andrew's Church Christchurch

919

30 December 1918

Rev. K. M. Ryburn Presbyterian

No	694
Date of Notice	30 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John Smith	Mabel Martin
	💍 1919/267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chaff-cutting Contractor	Clerk
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Upper Riccarton	Lower Riccarton
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	919
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. M. Ryburn Presbyterian

695

30 December 1918

Cyril Arnold
Bertha Charlotte Zaigel

Cyril Arnold
Bertha Charlotte Taiget
💍 1919/284

Bachelor
Spinster

Typewriter Expert
Shop Assistant

19
21

Sydenham
Sydenham

13 years
5 years

Trinity Congregational Church Worcester St Christchurch

914

Joseph Phillip Billington Arnold Father

30 December 1918

Rev. G. E. Moore Congregationalist

No	695
Date of Notice	30 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Arnold	Bertha Charlotte Zaigel
BDM Match (96%)	Cyril Arnold	Bertha Charlotte Taiget
	💍 1919/284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Typewriter Expert	Shop Assistant
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	13 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church Worcester St Christchurch
Folio	914
Consent	Joseph Phillip Billington Arnold Father
Date of Certificate	30 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Moore Congregationalist

696

31 December 1918

Robert William Boyle
Emily Russell

Robert William Boyle
Emily Russell
💍 1919/261

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

36
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
7 days

Residence of Rev F. Rule Richmond Terrace Christchurch

31 December 1918

Rev. F. Rule Presbyterian

No	696
Date of Notice	31 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Boyle	Emily Russell
	💍 1919/261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev F. Rule Richmond Terrace Christchurch
Folio	10
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Rule Presbyterian

697

31 December 1918

Lawrence Charles Penlington
Doris Hannah Fox

Laurence Charles Penlington
Doris Hannah Fox
💍 1919/268

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Cashier

25
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
20 years

St Michael's Church Christchurch

31 December 1918

Rev. C. G. Perry Anglican

No	697
Date of Notice	31 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Charles Penlington	Doris Hannah Fox
BDM Match (98%)	Laurence Charles Penlington	Doris Hannah Fox
	💍 1919/268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Cashier
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	17
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. G. Perry Anglican

698

31 December 1918

William Albert Boaz
Esther Louisa Ayers

William Albert Boaz
Esther Louisa Ayers
💍 1919/269

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Waitress

20
19

Sydenham
Sydenham

20 years
19 years

St Saviour's Church Sydenham

Consent to bridegroom under sec 27 William Ayers Father

14 January 1919

No	698
Date of Notice	31 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Boaz	Esther Louisa Ayers
	💍 1919/269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Waitress
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	18
Consent	Consent to bridegroom under sec 27 William Ayers Father
Date of Certificate	14 January 1919
Officiating Minister

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).