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 2020

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

427

10 August 1918

Donald Biggam Meikleham
Anne Fenton Vincent

Donald Biggam Meikleham
Anne Fenton Vincent
💍 1918/3938

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Journalist

32
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
24 years

St Luke's Church Christchurch

3428

10 August 1918

Rev. J. W. N. Taylor Anglican

No	427
Date of Notice	10 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Biggam Meikleham	Anne Fenton Vincent
	💍 1918/3938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Journalist
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	3428
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. N. Taylor Anglican

428

10 August 1918

Charles Henry Smith
Priscilla May Allen

Charles Henry Smith
Priscilla May Allen
💍 1918/3939

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Dressmaker

23
22

Featherston
Sydenham

3 months
22 years

St Saviour's Church Sydenham

3429

10 August 1918

Rev. H. S. Leach Anglican

No	428
Date of Notice	10 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Smith	Priscilla May Allen
	💍 1918/3939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Dressmaker
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 months	22 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	3429
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach Anglican

429

10 August 1918

Jesse Sykes
Jane Rebecca Watts

Jesse Sykes
Jane Rebecca Watts
💍 1918/3940

Bachelor
Widow October 17, 1911

Soldier
Milliner

28
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 days
6 years

Methodist Parsonage 54 Chester Street Christchurch

3430

10 August 1918

Rev. P. N. Knight Methodist

No	429
Date of Notice	10 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Sykes	Jane Rebecca Watts
	💍 1918/3940
Condition	Bachelor	Widow October 17, 1911
Profession	Soldier	Milliner
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage 54 Chester Street Christchurch
Folio	3430
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight Methodist

430

12 August 1918

Fred Lincoln Schaffer
Pansy Florence Heath

Fred Lincoln Schaffer
Pansy Florence Heath
💍 1918/3941

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
20

Lincoln
Ladbrooks

3 days
6 years

St Stephen's Church Lincoln

3431

Thomas Herbert Heath Father

12 August 1918

Rev. H. A. Wilkinson Anglican

No	430
Date of Notice	12 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Lincoln Schaffer	Pansy Florence Heath
	💍 1918/3941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Lincoln	Ladbrooks
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church Lincoln
Folio	3431
Consent	Thomas Herbert Heath Father
Date of Certificate	12 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Wilkinson Anglican

431

12 August 1918

William Dalesbury Horsley
Anna Eva Dorothea Becker Carmichael Sim

William Dalisbury Horsley
Anna Eva Dorothea Becker Carmichael Sim
💍 1918/3942

Widower October 27, 1916
Spinster

Orchardist

45
36

Fisherton
St Albans

5 years
8 years

Residence of Mrs D. Harden 53 Edward Avenue St Albans

3432

12 August 1918

Rev. R. Erwin Presbyterian

No	431
Date of Notice	12 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dalesbury Horsley	Anna Eva Dorothea Becker Carmichael Sim
BDM Match (98%)	William Dalisbury Horsley	Anna Eva Dorothea Becker Carmichael Sim
	💍 1918/3942
Condition	Widower October 27, 1916	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist
Age	45	36
Dwelling Place	Fisherton	St Albans
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs D. Harden 53 Edward Avenue St Albans
Folio	3432
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin 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).