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 2048

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

564

9 October 1918

Gerald Hannah Yeatman
Mary May Pope

Gerald Hannah Teatman
Mary May Pope
💍 1918/5312

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

29
29

St. Albans
Riccarton

12 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch church.

4925

9 October 1918

Rev J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	564
Date of Notice	9 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Hannah Yeatman	Mary May Pope
BDM Match (98%)	Gerald Hannah Teatman	Mary May Pope
	💍 1918/5312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Riccarton
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch church.
Folio	4925
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Long, Roman Catholic

565

10 October 1918

Patrick Mahoney
Maud Annie Begg

Patrick Mahoney
Maud Annie Begg
💍 1918/5345

Widower November 19, 1912
Spinster

Retired Hotelkeeper

57
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

3½ years
5 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch church.

4926

10 October 1918

Rev J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	565
Date of Notice	10 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Mahoney	Maud Annie Begg
	💍 1918/5345
Condition	Widower November 19, 1912	Spinster
Profession	Retired Hotelkeeper
Age	57	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3½ years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch church.
Folio	4926
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

566

10 October 1918

John Heugh Bell
Ida Mildred Sarah Summerton

John Heugh Bell
Ida Mildred Sarah Summerton
💍 1918/5356

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Confectioner

24
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

St Paul's Church, Christchurch church.

4927

10 October 1918

Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	566
Date of Notice	10 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Heugh Bell	Ida Mildred Sarah Summerton
	💍 1918/5356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Confectioner
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Christchurch church.
Folio	4927
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

567

10 October 1918

Leslie Lewis Derbridge
Flora Jamieson

Leslie Lewis Derbidge
Flora Jamieson
💍 1918/6362

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk

29
30

Christchurch
Kaiapoi

6 months
3 days

Residence of Mrs A. J. Douglas, Charles Street, Kaiapoi.

6043

10 October 1918

Rev A. Laishley, Presbyterian

No	567
Date of Notice	10 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Lewis Derbridge	Flora Jamieson
BDM Match (98%)	Leslie Lewis Derbidge	Flora Jamieson
	💍 1918/6362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	6 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs A. J. Douglas, Charles Street, Kaiapoi.
Folio	6043
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Laishley, Presbyterian

568

14 October 1918

George Amos Herbert
Marjorie Blanche Boulton

George Amos Herbert
Marjori Blanche Boulton
💍 1918/5363

Bachelor
Spinster

Officer, Mercantile marine

25
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
19 years

St Luke's Church, Christchurch church.

4928

William John Phillip Boulton, Father

14 October 1918

Rev J. R. Wilford, Anglican

No	568
Date of Notice	14 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Amos Herbert	Marjorie Blanche Boulton
BDM Match (98%)	George Amos Herbert	Marjori Blanche Boulton
	💍 1918/5363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Officer, Mercantile marine
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Christchurch church.
Folio	4928
Consent	William John Phillip Boulton, Father
Date of Certificate	14 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Wilford, 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).