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 2072

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

684

24 December 1918

William Osric Robert Gilling
Hypatia Early

William Osric Robert Gilling
Hypatia Early
💍 1919/281

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Research Chemist
Milliner

26
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
2 years

Residence of Mr. E. Early, 58 Hawke St, New Brighton

6/1919

24 December 1918

Rev E. N. Goring, Baptist

No	684
Date of Notice	24 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Osric Robert Gilling	Hypatia Early
	💍 1919/281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Research Chemist	Milliner
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. E. Early, 58 Hawke St, New Brighton
Folio	6/1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev E. N. Goring, Baptist

685

24 December 1918

Frank Parker
Gladys Alma Moore

Frank Parker
Gladys Alma Moore
💍 1919/282

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Accountant

24
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

24 years
2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

7/1919

Harriet Moore, Mother

24 December 1918

Rev O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	685
Date of Notice	24 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Parker	Gladys Alma Moore
	💍 1919/282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Accountant
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	7/1919
Consent	Harriet Moore, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

686

24 December 1918

James Francis Hannan
Sarah Harding

James Francis Hannan
Sarah Harding
💍 1918/5396

Bachelor
Previously married but not heard of husband for 20 years last past

Labourer

50
58

St Albans
St Albans

50 years
40 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

5035

24 December 1918

Registrar

No	686
Date of Notice	24 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Hannan	Sarah Harding
	💍 1918/5396
Condition	Bachelor	Previously married but not heard of husband for 20 years last past
Profession	Labourer
Age	50	58
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	50 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	5035
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

687

24 December 1918

Harold Gordon Ablett
Ada Elizabeth Taylor

Harold Gordon Ablett
Ada Elizabeth Taylor
💍 1919/265

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas Employee
Tailoress

23
24

Sydenham
St Albans

20 years
11 years

St Lukes Church, Christchurch

14/1919

24 December 1918

Rev F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	687
Date of Notice	24 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Gordon Ablett	Ada Elizabeth Taylor
	💍 1919/265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas Employee	Tailoress
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	St Albans
Length of Residence	20 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church, Christchurch
Folio	14/1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. N. Taylor, Anglican

688

30 December 1918

Arthur George Smith
Rachel McNicholl

Arthur George Smith
Rachel McNicholl
💍 1918/5397

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

36
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days
21 days (Sydenham)

Residence of Mrs Mc Nicholl, 15 Elgin St, Sydenham

5036

30 December 1918

Rev W. Beckett, Methodist

No	688
Date of Notice	30 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Smith	Rachel McNicholl
	💍 1918/5397
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days	21 days (Sydenham)
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Mc Nicholl, 15 Elgin St, Sydenham
Folio	5036
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Beckett, 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).