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 2008

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

367

6 July 1918

Edwin Douglas Pullon
Rosalind Jean Hamilton

Edwin Douglas Pullon
Rosalind Jean Hamilton
💍 1918/1411

Bachelor
Spinster

Army Officer

28
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 weeks
12 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

3372

6 July 1918

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	367
Date of Notice	6 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Douglas Pullon	Rosalind Jean Hamilton
	💍 1918/1411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Army Officer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 weeks	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3372
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

368

6 July 1918

Frederick Dray
Sarah Alice Coventry

Frederick Dray
Sarah Alice Coventry
💍 1918/5294

Bachelor
Spinster

House Decorator
Machinist

28
18

Sydenham
Sydenham

5 weeks
17 years

Spiritualist's Church, Orange Hall, Worcester Street, Christchurch

4835

Arthur Ernest Coventry, Father

6 July 1918

Mr. C. B. Morris, Spiritualist

No	368
Date of Notice	6 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Dray	Sarah Alice Coventry
	💍 1918/5294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	House Decorator	Machinist
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 weeks	17 years
Marriage Place	Spiritualist's Church, Orange Hall, Worcester Street, Christchurch
Folio	4835
Consent	Arthur Ernest Coventry, Father
Date of Certificate	6 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. B. Morris, Spiritualist

369

8 July 1918

Stuart Forbes Williams
Lilian Ernestine Ethel Hill

Stuart Forbes Williams
Lilian Ernestine Ethel Hill
💍 1918/1412

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

20
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
11 years

St. Mary's Church, Merivale, Christchurch

3373

William Forbes Williams, Father; Elizabeth Coe, Guardian

8 July 1918

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	369
Date of Notice	8 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stuart Forbes Williams	Lilian Ernestine Ethel Hill
	💍 1918/1412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale, Christchurch
Folio	3373
Consent	William Forbes Williams, Father; Elizabeth Coe, Guardian
Date of Certificate	8 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

370

8 July 1918

Roland Taylor
Vivienne Isabel Thurman Pascoe

Roland Taylor
Vivienne Isabel Thurman Pascoe
💍 1918/1413

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

30
32

Avonside
St. Albans

4 days
16 years

St. Mary's Church, Merivale, Christchurch

3374

8 July 1918

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	370
Date of Notice	8 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Taylor	Vivienne Isabel Thurman Pascoe
	💍 1918/1413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Avonside	St. Albans
Length of Residence	4 days	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale, Christchurch
Folio	3374
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

371

8 July 1918

David Barlass
Lottie Louisa Fowler

David Barlass
Lottie Louisa Fowler
💍 1918/1414

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Costumier

23
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
15 years

Seventh-day Adventist Church, Barbadoes St., Christchurch

3375

8 July 1918

Pastor H. E. Letts, Seventh-day Adventist

No	371
Date of Notice	8 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Barlass	Lottie Louisa Fowler
	💍 1918/1414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Costumier
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Seventh-day Adventist Church, Barbadoes St., Christchurch
Folio	3375
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Pastor H. E. Letts, Seventh-day Adventist

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).