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 1960

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

136

25 March 1918

Holland Samuel Burgess
Ivy Florence Hack

Holland Samuel Burgess
Ivy Florence Hack
💍 1918/1102

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
21

Addington
Christchurch

7 years
4 years

Residence of Mr G. Wallen, 71 Harman Street, Addington

689

25 March 1918

Rev. T. W. Nealie, Methodist

No	136
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Holland Samuel Burgess	Ivy Florence Hack
	💍 1918/1102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Addington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. Wallen, 71 Harman Street, Addington
Folio	689
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Nealie, Methodist

137

25 March 1918

Allan Hunter
Ethel Grace Perry

Allan Hunter
Ettie Grace Perry
💍 1918/1103

Widower (March 15, 1906)
Spinster

Salesman

42
22

Addington
Addington

8 years
22 years

St Andrews Church, Christchurch

690

25 March 1918

Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	137
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Hunter	Ethel Grace Perry
BDM Match (91%)	Allan Hunter	Ettie Grace Perry
	💍 1918/1103
Condition	Widower (March 15, 1906)	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	42	22
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	8 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Christchurch
Folio	690
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Thompson, Presbyterian

138

25 March 1918

Peter Hill
Kathleen Edith Smith

Peter Hill
Kathleen Edith Smith
💍 1918/1104

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Tailoress

22
21

Sydenham
Sydenham

2 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

691

25 March 1918

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	138
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Hill	Kathleen Edith Smith
	💍 1918/1104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Tailoress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	691
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

139

25 March 1918

Henry John Timms
Alice Florence Carlson

Henry John Timms
Alice Florence Carlson
💍 1918/1105

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's assistant

26
23

Spreydon
Linwood

3 years
4 years

St Paul's Church, Christchurch

692

25 March 1918

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	139
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Timms	Alice Florence Carlson
	💍 1918/1105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's assistant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	692
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

140

25 March 1918

Menzies Uhrig Sinclair
Ruby Gladys Keill

Menzies Olrig Sinclair
Ruby Gladys Neill
💍 1918/1106

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk
Clerk

23
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years
15 years

St Mary's Church, Addington

693

25 March 1918

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	140
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Menzies Uhrig Sinclair	Ruby Gladys Keill
BDM Match (93%)	Menzies Olrig Sinclair	Ruby Gladys Neill
	💍 1918/1106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk	Clerk
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	693
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, 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).