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 2014

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

397

20 July 1918

Laurence Gordon Grace
Phyliss Kathleen Sharpin

Laurence Gordon Grace
Phyliss Kathleen Sharpin
💍 1918/3911

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

33
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 weeks

St Luke's Church, Christchurch

3399

20 July 1918

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	397
Date of Notice	20 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Gordon Grace	Phyliss Kathleen Sharpin
	💍 1918/3911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3399
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

398

22 July 1918

Thomas Walsh
Maria Mould

Thomas Walsh
Maria Mould
💍 1918/3912

Bachelor
Widow March 2, 1914

Clerk

28
37

Christchurch
Riccarton

3 days
2 weeks

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3400

22 July 1918

Registrar

No	398
Date of Notice	22 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walsh	Maria Mould
	💍 1918/3912
Condition	Bachelor	Widow March 2, 1914
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3400
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

399

22 July 1918

Patrick Joseph McNamara
Catherine McGuinness

Patrick Joseph McNamara
Catherine McGuinness
💍 1918/4218

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Painter

35
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

3401

22 July 1918

Rev. J Carroll, R.C.

No	399
Date of Notice	22 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph McNamara	Catherine McGuinness
	💍 1918/4218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Painter
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	3401
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J Carroll, R.C.

400

22 July 1918

Robert Scott
Emily Jennings

Robert Scott
Emily Jennings
💍 1918/4229

Widower March 28, 1905
Spinster

Motor Driver

45
43

Christchurch
Lincoln

5 weeks
Life

Anglican Church, Lincoln

3402

22 July 1918

Rev. H. A. Wilkinson, Anglican

No	400
Date of Notice	22 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Scott	Emily Jennings
	💍 1918/4229
Condition	Widower March 28, 1905	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	45	43
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Lincoln
Length of Residence	5 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Lincoln
Folio	3402
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Wilkinson, Anglican

401

23 July 1918

Percy Benjamin Hampton
Mabel Evelyn Coe

Percy Benjamin Hampton
Mabel Evelyn Coe
💍 1918/4236

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St Mary's Church, Merivale

3403

23 July 1918

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	401
Date of Notice	23 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Benjamin Hampton	Mabel Evelyn Coe
	💍 1918/4236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	3403
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, 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).