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 1970

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

179

02 April 1918

Alfred Colville
Agnes Lusk

Alfred Colville
Agnes Lusk
💍 1918/2100

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office Christchurch

1638

Annie Lusk, Mother

02 April 1918

Registrar

No	179
Date of Notice	02 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Colville	Agnes Lusk
	💍 1918/2100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	1638
Consent	Annie Lusk, Mother
Date of Certificate	02 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

180

02 April 1918

William Henry Lucas
Ruby Milne

William Henry Lucas
Ruby Milne
💍 1918/2101

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Dressmaker

24
23

St Albans
Linwood

3 days
6 years

Residence of Mr C Milne 546 Worcester Street Linwood

1639

02 April 1918

Rev A. Liversedge, Methodist

No	180
Date of Notice	02 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Lucas	Ruby Milne
	💍 1918/2101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr C Milne 546 Worcester Street Linwood
Folio	1639
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Liversedge, Methodist

181

02 April 1918

Arthur Ernest Boagey
Annie Jones

Arthur Ernest Bodger
Annie Jones
💍 1918/2102

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

37
27

Sydenham
Linwood

7 years
6 years

Residence of Mrs Jones 42 Matheson's Road Linwood

1640

02 April 1918

Major E. G. Newby Salvation Army

No	181
Date of Notice	02 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Boagey	Annie Jones
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Ernest Bodger	Annie Jones
	💍 1918/2102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Linwood
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Jones 42 Matheson's Road Linwood
Folio	1640
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Major E. G. Newby Salvation Army

182

02 April 1918

Arthur Brookes
Lucy Ann Flower

Arthur Brooker
Lucy Ann Flower
💍 1918/2103

Divorced Decree absolute granted in July 1900
Widow July 31st 1911

Timber Worker

63
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
6 months

Residence of Captain W. J. A. Hildreth 17 Cranford Street St Albans

1641

02 April 1918

Captain W J A Hildreth Salvation Army

No	182
Date of Notice	02 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Brookes	Lucy Ann Flower
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Brooker	Lucy Ann Flower
	💍 1918/2103
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute granted in July 1900	Widow July 31st 1911
Profession	Timber Worker
Age	63	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Captain W. J. A. Hildreth 17 Cranford Street St Albans
Folio	1641
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Captain W J A Hildreth Salvation Army

183

03 April 1918

Walter Charles Battson
Ethel Stocks

Walter Charles Battson
Ethel Stocks
💍 1918/2104

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier
Draper

33
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
4 weeks

St John's Church Christchurch

1642

03 April 1918

Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	183
Date of Notice	03 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Charles Battson	Ethel Stocks
	💍 1918/2104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier	Draper
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	1642
Consent
Date of Certificate	03 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

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).