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 2010

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

377

13 July 1918

Gerald Kennard
Lilian Gertrude Brand

Gerald Kennard
Lilian Gertrude Brand
💍 1918/4509

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
24

St. Albans
St. Albans

1 week
1 year

Residence of Rev. J. Cocker 227 Cambridge Terrace Christchurch

4025

13 July 1918

Rev J Cocker Methodist

No	377
Date of Notice	13 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Kennard	Lilian Gertrude Brand
	💍 1918/4509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	1 week	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Cocker 227 Cambridge Terrace Christchurch
Folio	4025
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Cocker Methodist

378

15 July 1918

Thomas James Houston
May Paterson

Thomas James Houston
May Paterson
💍 1918/3916

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

25
20

Addington
Sydenham

3 years
20 years

St Mary's Church Addington

3381

Agnes Sarah Paterson Mother.

15 July 1918

Rev. W. S. Bean Anglican

No	378
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Houston	May Paterson
	💍 1918/3916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Addington	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	3381
Consent	Agnes Sarah Paterson Mother.
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean Anglican

379

15 July 1918

Hugh Lycett Evans
Winifred Hope Wilkinson

Hugh Lycett Evans
Winifred Hope Wilkinson
💍 1918/3917

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

33
28

Papanui
St Albans

12 years
2 years

St Paul's Church Papanui

3382

15 July 1918

Rev W. H. Orbell Anglican

No	379
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Lycett Evans	Winifred Hope Wilkinson
	💍 1918/3917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Papanui	St Albans
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Papanui
Folio	3382
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Orbell Anglican

380

15 July 1918

Edwin Truman Taylor
Lucy Agnes Yates

Edwin Truman Taylor
Lucy Agnes Watts
💍 1918/3918

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
25

Riccarton
Spreydon

12 years
7 years

St Saviour's Church Sydenham

3383

15 July 1918

Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

No	380
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Truman Taylor	Lucy Agnes Yates
BDM Match (94%)	Edwin Truman Taylor	Lucy Agnes Watts
	💍 1918/3918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Spreydon
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	3383
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Leach Anglican

381

15 July 1918

Archibald Leslie Nugent
Edith Phillipa Bowman

Archibald Leslie Nugent
Edith Phillipa Bowman
💍 1918/3919

Bachelor
Spinster

Artificial Limb Specialist
Milliner

27
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
23 years

Methodist Parsonage 54 Chester St Christchurch

3384

15 July 1918

Rev B. F. Knight Methodist

No	381
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Leslie Nugent	Edith Phillipa Bowman
	💍 1918/3919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artificial Limb Specialist	Milliner
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage 54 Chester St Christchurch
Folio	3384
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev B. F. Knight Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).