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 2050

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

574

15 October 1918

Noel Mark Fowler
Pleasance Maud Felton

Noel Mark Fowler
Pleasance Maud Felton
💍 1918/5369

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant (Soldier)
Shorthand Typiste

19
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days
4 days

St John's Church, Christchurch

4934

Peter James Fowler, Father

15 October 1918

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	574
Date of Notice	15 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noel Mark Fowler	Pleasance Maud Felton
	💍 1918/5369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant (Soldier)	Shorthand Typiste
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	4934
Consent	Peter James Fowler, Father
Date of Certificate	15 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

575

15 October 1918

Hugh O'Connor
Hilda Amelia Taylor

Hugh O'Connor
Hilda Amelia Taylor
💍 1918/5346

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

23
22

Trentham
Christchurch

-
10 years

St Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

4935

15 October 1918

Rev. C. H. Seymour, R. C.

No	575
Date of Notice	15 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh O'Connor	Hilda Amelia Taylor
	💍 1918/5346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	-	10 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	4935
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour, R. C.

576

15 October 1918

William Henry Mercer
Flora Jane Daluch

William Henry Mercer
Flora Jane French
💍 1918/5347

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Saleswoman

26
24

Spreydon
Sydenham

4 months
4 years

St David's Manse, Sydenham

4936

15 October 1918

Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

No	576
Date of Notice	15 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Mercer	Flora Jane Daluch
BDM Match (88%)	William Henry Mercer	Flora Jane French
	💍 1918/5347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Saleswoman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Sydenham
Length of Residence	4 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St David's Manse, Sydenham
Folio	4936
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Murray, Presbyterian

577

17 October 1918

Enoch Ivor Kemeys
Agnes Lindsay

Enoch Ivor Kemeys
Agnes Lindsay
💍 1918/5348

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Secretary

36
22

Waltham
Linwood

4 years
Life

Residence of Mr G. Lindsay, 46 Matheson's Road, Linwood

4937

17 October 1918

Rev. H. A. Job, Congregationalist

No	577
Date of Notice	17 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Enoch Ivor Kemeys	Agnes Lindsay
	💍 1918/5348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Secretary
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Waltham	Linwood
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. Lindsay, 46 Matheson's Road, Linwood
Folio	4937
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Job, Congregationalist

578

17 October 1918

Arthur Stanley Kilworth
Olive Campbell

Arthur Stanley Kilworth
Olive Campbell
💍 1918/5349

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Waitress

25
21

Christchurch
St Albans

7 years
9 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

4938

17 October 1918

Registrar

No	578
Date of Notice	17 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanley Kilworth	Olive Campbell
	💍 1918/5349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Waitress
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St Albans
Length of Residence	7 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	4938
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).