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 2002

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

339

20 June 1918

William Meikleham
Christina McAllister

William Meikleham
Christina McAllister
💍 1918/2227

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
39

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
5 years

Presbyterian Manse, 346 Worcester Street, Linwood

1790

20 June 1918

Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	339
Date of Notice	20 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Meikleham	Christina McAllister
	💍 1918/2227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 346 Worcester Street, Linwood
Folio	1790
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

340

20 June 1918

Herbert James Gibson
Gertrude Annie Gee

Herbert James Gibson
Gertrude Annie Gee
💍 1918/2228

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
26

Linwood
Linwood

3 weeks
6 years

Anglican Church, Avonside

1791

20 June 1918

Rev V. FitzGerald, Anglican

No	340
Date of Notice	20 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Gibson	Gertrude Annie Gee
	💍 1918/2228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Avonside
Folio	1791
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev V. FitzGerald, Anglican

341

22 June 1918

Cuthbert George Holland
Kathleen Nora Murphy

Cuthbert George Holland
Kathleen Cora Murphy
💍 1918/2229

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

21
18

New Brighton
New Brighton

21 years
18 years

St John's Church, Christchurch

1792

Joseph Henry Clistob, Guardian

22 June 1918

Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	341
Date of Notice	22 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cuthbert George Holland	Kathleen Nora Murphy
BDM Match (98%)	Cuthbert George Holland	Kathleen Cora Murphy
	💍 1918/2229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1792
Consent	Joseph Henry Clistob, Guardian
Date of Certificate	22 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

342

22 June 1918

William Plates
Lilian Gertrude Payne

William Slater
Lilian Gertrude Payne
💍 1918/2230

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman
Cook

36
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
5 years

Residence of Rev P. N. Knight, 54 Chester Street, Christchurch

1793

22 June 1918

Rev P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	342
Date of Notice	22 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Plates	Lilian Gertrude Payne
BDM Match (93%)	William Slater	Lilian Gertrude Payne
	💍 1918/2230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman	Cook
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev P. N. Knight, 54 Chester Street, Christchurch
Folio	1793
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. N. Knight, Methodist

343

24 June 1918

Alexander Finlay
Margaret Harrison

Alexander Finlay
Margaret Harrison
💍 1918/2231

Alexander Wray
Winifred Annie Harrison
💍 1918/3072

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Dressmaker

45
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
9 days

St Peter's Church, Woolston

1794

24 June 1918

Rev J. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	343
Date of Notice	24 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Finlay	Margaret Harrison
	💍 1918/2231
BDM Match (61%)	Alexander Wray	Winifred Annie Harrison
	💍 1918/3072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	45	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	9 days
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Woolston
Folio	1794
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. McDonald, 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).