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 2064

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

644

9 December 1918

Walter Albert Eric Jones
Elsie Eliza Martin

Walter Albert Eric Jones
Elsie Eliza Martin
💍 1918/5387

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Packer

19
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 years
20 years

Salvation Army Barracks, Sydenham

5000

William Joseph Jones, Father

9 December 1918

Capt. G. Inglis, Salvation Army

No	644
Date of Notice	9 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Albert Eric Jones	Elsie Eliza Martin
	💍 1918/5387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Packer
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks, Sydenham
Folio	5000
Consent	William Joseph Jones, Father
Date of Certificate	9 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Capt. G. Inglis, Salvation Army

645

9 December 1918

Vivian Hans Line
Bessie Mary Stanbury

Vivian Hans Line
Bessie May Stanbury
💍 1918/5419

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Music Teacher

26
28

Addington
Addington

7 weeks
6 months

St. Mary's Church, Addington

5001

9 December 1918

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	645
Date of Notice	9 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Hans Line	Bessie Mary Stanbury
BDM Match (98%)	Vivian Hans Line	Bessie May Stanbury
	💍 1918/5419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Music Teacher
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	7 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	5001
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

646

10 December 1918

Charles Camden Pratt
Mabel McCutcheon

Charles Camden Pratt
Mabel McCutcheon
💍 1918/5430

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Dressmaker

31
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
24 years

Methodist Church Selwyn Street Spreydon

5002

10 December 1918

Rev. W. Harris, Methodist

No	646
Date of Notice	10 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Camden Pratt	Mabel McCutcheon
	💍 1918/5430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Dressmaker
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Selwyn Street Spreydon
Folio	5002
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Harris, Methodist

647

10 December 1918

Frank Everard Reeve
Hilda Ada Amelia Cocker

Frank Everard Reeve
Hilda Ada Amelia Cocker
💍 1918/5437

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Tailoress

24
27

New Brighton
Christchurch

12 years
21 years

Trinity Congregational Church Worcester Street, Christchurch

5003

10 December 1918

Rev. G. K. Moore, Congregational

No	647
Date of Notice	10 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Everard Reeve	Hilda Ada Amelia Cocker
	💍 1918/5437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Tailoress
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church Worcester Street, Christchurch
Folio	5003
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Moore, Congregational

648

10 December 1918

Leonard Walter Campion
Margaret Louisa Cartwright Shaw

Leonard Walter Campion
Margaret Louisa Cartwright Shaw
💍 1918/5438

Widower, January 1909
Spinster

Farmer
Shop Assistant

36
23

Richmond
Spreydon

3 days
4 years

St. Andrew's Manse Christchurch

5004

10 December 1918

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	648
Date of Notice	10 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Walter Campion	Margaret Louisa Cartwright Shaw
	💍 1918/5438
Condition	Widower, January 1909	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop Assistant
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Spreydon
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse Christchurch
Folio	5004
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

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).