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 2066

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

654

11 December 1918

Franklyn John Garfield Warren
Enid Eva Grace Hope

Franklyn John Garfield Warren
Enid Eva Grace Hope
💍 1918/5420

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute Dated July 4/1918

Mariner
Secretary

34
28

Linwood
Linwood

6 weeks
18 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

5010

11 December 1918

Registrar

No	654
Date of Notice	11 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franklyn John Garfield Warren	Enid Eva Grace Hope
	💍 1918/5420
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute Dated July 4/1918
Profession	Mariner	Secretary
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	6 weeks	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	5010
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

655

13 December 1918

Stanley Austin Piper
Ellen Beatrice Ransley

Stanley Austin Piper
Ellen Beatrice Ransley
💍 1918/5421

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Shop Assistant

30
27

St Albans
Woolston

17 years
24 years

St Paul's Church Christchurch

5011

13 December 1918

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	655
Date of Notice	13 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Austin Piper	Ellen Beatrice Ransley
	💍 1918/5421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Shop Assistant
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Woolston
Length of Residence	17 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	5011
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

656

13 December 1918

William Armstrong
Alice Johnson

William Armstrong
Alice Johnson
💍 1918/5422

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist

28
27

Papanui
Papanui

1 year
8 months

Residence of Mr Armstrong 160 Sawyers Arms Road Papanui

5012

13 December 1918

Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	656
Date of Notice	13 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Armstrong	Alice Johnson
	💍 1918/5422
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	1 year	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Armstrong 160 Sawyers Arms Road Papanui
Folio	5012
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

657

13 December 1918

Walter George Carter
Grace Waimea Faulkner

Walter George Carter
Grace Waimea Faulkner
💍 1918/5423

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Dressmaker

27
25

Sumner
Sydenham

27 years
24 years

St Saviour's Church Sydenham

5013

13 December 1918

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	657
Date of Notice	13 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter George Carter	Grace Waimea Faulkner
	💍 1918/5423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Dressmaker
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Sydenham
Length of Residence	27 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	5013
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

658

14 December 1918

William Henry Greenwood
Ivy Emelia Reid

William Henry Greenwood
Ivy Emelia Reid
💍 1918/5424

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
4 days

St Michael's Church Christchurch

5014

14 December 1918

Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	658
Date of Notice	14 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Greenwood	Ivy Emelia Reid
	💍 1918/5424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	4 days
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	5014
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry, 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).