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 2046

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

554

7 October 1918

Walter Alfred Saunders
Minnie Embleton Pegg

Walter Alfred Saunders
Minnie Embleton Pegg
💍 1918/5301

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
26

Linwood
Linwood

3 days
Life

Church of the Good Shepherd, Philipstown

4915

7 October 1918

Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	554
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Alfred Saunders	Minnie Embleton Pegg
	💍 1918/5301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd, Philipstown
Folio	4915
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

555

7 October 1918

Frederick Alexander Gilmore
Gladys Evelyn Kundalee Norrie

Frederick Alexander Gilmore
Gladys Evelyn Hundalee Norrie
💍 1918/5302

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

4916

John McKechnie Norrie, Father

7 October 1918

Rev. M. Fogarty, Roman Catholic

No	555
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alexander Gilmore	Gladys Evelyn Kundalee Norrie
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Alexander Gilmore	Gladys Evelyn Hundalee Norrie
	💍 1918/5302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	4916
Consent	John McKechnie Norrie, Father
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Fogarty, Roman Catholic

556

7 October 1918

Malcolm Smith
May Priscilla Bates

Malcolm Smith
May Priscilla Bates
💍 1918/5303

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 months
4 years

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

4917

7 October 1918

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	556
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Smith	May Priscilla Bates
	💍 1918/5303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	4917
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

557

7 October 1918

Frederick James Evans commonly known as Jones
Fanny Stevens Wood

Frederick James Jones
Fanny Stevens Wood
💍 1918/5304

Widower, 4 October 1916
Spinster

Labourer

31
29

Riccarton
Christchurch

6 months
29 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

4918

7 October 1918

Registrar

No	557
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Evans commonly known as Jones	Fanny Stevens Wood
BDM Match (73%)	Frederick James Jones	Fanny Stevens Wood
	💍 1918/5304
Condition	Widower, 4 October 1916	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	29 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	4918
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

558

7 October 1918

Francis Hunt
Olive Emily Lewis

Francis Hunt
Olive Emily Lewis
💍 1918/5305

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Tailoress

30
25

Dallington
Dallington

1 year
12 years

Methodist Church, Ollivier's Road, Linwood

4919

7 October 1918

Rev. S. Hudson, Methodist

No	558
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hunt	Olive Emily Lewis
	💍 1918/5305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Tailoress
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Dallington	Dallington
Length of Residence	1 year	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ollivier's Road, Linwood
Folio	4919
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hudson, Methodist

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).