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 2054

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

594

30 October 1918

Charles Henry Wright
Rachel Ann Bradley

Charles Henry Wright
Rachel Ann Bradley
💍 1918/5339

Widower February 4, 1918
Spinster

Town Clerk and Engineer
Saleswoman

56
53

Christchurch
St. Albans

4 days
9 years

Methodist Church, 139 Rugby Street, St. Albans

4954

30 October 1918

Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist

No	594
Date of Notice	30 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Wright	Rachel Ann Bradley
	💍 1918/5339
Condition	Widower February 4, 1918	Spinster
Profession	Town Clerk and Engineer	Saleswoman
Age	56	53
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	4 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, 139 Rugby Street, St. Albans
Folio	4954
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist

595

30 October 1918

Francis Joseph Kiesanowski
Veronica Mary Hickland

Francis Joseph Kiesanowski
Veronica Mary Hickland
💍 1918/5340

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

37
21

Marshland
Marshland

32 years
4 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

4955

30 October 1918

Rev. P. Regnault, Roman Catholic

No	595
Date of Notice	30 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Kiesanowski	Veronica Mary Hickland
	💍 1918/5340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Marshland
Length of Residence	32 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	4955
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault, Roman Catholic

596

30 October 1918

Leslie Murray Clancy
Rhoda Vagg

Leslie Murray Clancy
Rhoda Vagg
💍 1918/5341

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 days
22 years

Residence of Mr W. Vagg, Christ's College, Christchurch

4956

30 October 1918

Rev. G. K. Moore, Congregationalist

No	596
Date of Notice	30 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Murray Clancy	Rhoda Vagg
	💍 1918/5341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Vagg, Christ's College, Christchurch
Folio	4956
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Moore, Congregationalist

597

30 October 1918

Claude Hilton Rensley
Elsie Annette White-Parsons

Claude Hilton Kersley
Elsie Annette White-Parsons
💍 1918/5342

Bachelor
Spinster

Lieutenant R.N.R.
Clerk

31
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 days
24 years

St John's Church, Latimer Square, Christchurch

4957

30 October 1918

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	597
Date of Notice	30 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Hilton Rensley	Elsie Annette White-Parsons
BDM Match (95%)	Claude Hilton Kersley	Elsie Annette White-Parsons
	💍 1918/5342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lieutenant R.N.R.	Clerk
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Latimer Square, Christchurch
Folio	4957
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

598

31 October 1918

Allan Leo Grimwood
Ethel Rhoda Jennings

Allan Leo Greenwood
Ethel Rhoda Jennings
💍 1918/5343

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

26
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 days
26 days

St David's Church, Sydenham

4958

31 October 1918

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	598
Date of Notice	31 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Leo Grimwood	Ethel Rhoda Jennings
BDM Match (92%)	Allan Leo Greenwood	Ethel Rhoda Jennings
	💍 1918/5343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 days	26 days
Marriage Place	St David's Church, Sydenham
Folio	4958
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, 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).