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 1982

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

239

2 May 1918

Albert Edward Ellerm
Florence May Jones

Albert Edward Ellerm
Florence May Jones
💍 1918/2159

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
3 years

Residence of J. M. Calder, 100 Peterborough Street, Christchurch

1696

2 May 1918

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	239
Date of Notice	2 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Ellerm	Florence May Jones
	💍 1918/2159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. M. Calder, 100 Peterborough Street, Christchurch
Folio	1696
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

240

2 May 1918

Louis John Horton
Ivy Gertrude Heald

Louis John Horton
Ivy Gertrude Heald
💍 1918/2160

Bachelor
Spinster

Brush Factory Employee

28
23

Addington
Addington

3 weeks
6 days

St Mary's Church, Addington

1697

2 May 1918

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	240
Date of Notice	2 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis John Horton	Ivy Gertrude Heald
	💍 1918/2160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brush Factory Employee
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	1697
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

241

2 May 1918

Reginald John McGee
Gladys May McConnell

Reginald John McGee
Gladys May McConnell
💍 1918/2161

Bachelor
Spinster

Cashier
Clerk

26
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
26 years

Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

1698

2 May 1918

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	241
Date of Notice	2 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald John McGee	Gladys May McConnell
	💍 1918/2161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cashier	Clerk
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	1698
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

242

6 May 1918

Edward Albert Griffiths
Elsie Selina Liebert

Edward Albert Griffiths
Elsie Selina Liebert
💍 1918/2162

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

31
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
10 years

Church of Christ, Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch

1699

6 May 1918

Rev. G. E. Moore, Congregationalist

No	242
Date of Notice	6 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Albert Griffiths	Elsie Selina Liebert
	💍 1918/2162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	1699
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Moore, Congregationalist

243

6 May 1918

William Nicholas Ryan
Mary Catherine Crossan

William Nicholas Ryan
Mary Catherine Crossen
💍 1918/2163

Bachelor
Spinster

Road Contractor
Clerk

32
25

New Brighton
Harewood

7 years
18 years

St Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

1700

6 May 1918

Rev. P. Regnault, R. C.

No	243
Date of Notice	6 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Nicholas Ryan	Mary Catherine Crossan
BDM Match (98%)	William Nicholas Ryan	Mary Catherine Crossen
	💍 1918/2163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Road Contractor	Clerk
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Harewood
Length of Residence	7 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	1700
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault, R. C.

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).