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 2006

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

357

2 July 1918

James Hogan
Violet Thomson

James Hogan
Violet Thomson
💍 1918/1400

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

35
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
23 years

St John's Church, Christchurch

3362

2 July 1918

Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	357
Date of Notice	2 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hogan	Violet Thomson
	💍 1918/1400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	23 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3362
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

358

3 July 1918

Angus Llewellyn Trumpet
Gladys Winifred Harman

Angus Llewellyn Trumper
Gladys Winnifred Harman
💍 1918/1401

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Cook

21
20

Christchurch
Sydenham, Christchurch

3 days
2 weeks

St John's Church, Christchurch

3363

Harry Cornelius Harman, father

3 July 1918

Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	358
Date of Notice	3 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Llewellyn Trumpet	Gladys Winifred Harman
BDM Match (96%)	Angus Llewellyn Trumper	Gladys Winnifred Harman
	💍 1918/1401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Cook
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham, Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3363
Consent	Harry Cornelius Harman, father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

359

3 July 1918

Reuben Thomas Greenhill
Olive May Coombes

Reuben Thomas Greenhill
Olive May Coomber
💍 1918/1402

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
School teacher

28
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St Augustine's Church, Cashmere Hills

3364

3 July 1918

Rev H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	359
Date of Notice	3 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Thomas Greenhill	Olive May Coombes
BDM Match (97%)	Reuben Thomas Greenhill	Olive May Coomber
	💍 1918/1402
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	School teacher
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Cashmere Hills
Folio	3364
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Leach, Anglican

360

3 July 1918

John Daly
Olivia Dorcas Rathbon

John Daly
Olivia Dorcas Rathbon
💍 1918/1403

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

29
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3365

3 July 1918

Registrar

No	360
Date of Notice	3 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daly	Olivia Dorcas Rathbon
	💍 1918/1403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3365
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

361

3 July 1918

Walter George Small
Ivy Louise Treuse

Walter George Small
Ivy Louise Trerise
💍 1918/1404

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Employee
Dressmaker

30
24

St Albans
Woolston

30 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Opawa

3366

3 July 1918

Rev J. Copeland, Methodist

No	361
Date of Notice	3 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter George Small	Ivy Louise Treuse
BDM Match (94%)	Walter George Small	Ivy Louise Trerise
	💍 1918/1404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Employee	Dressmaker
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Woolston
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Opawa
Folio	3366
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Copeland, 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).