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 1956

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

116

15 March 1918

Richard Titus Bragg
Laura Isabel Atkins

Richard Titus Cragg
Laura Isabel Atkins
💍 1918/335

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

31
26

Christchurch
Riccarton

3 days
20 years

St Peters Church Riccarton

869

15 March 1918

Rev H. T. York Anglican

No	116
Date of Notice	15 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Titus Bragg	Laura Isabel Atkins
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Titus Cragg	Laura Isabel Atkins
	💍 1918/335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Riccarton
Folio	869
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. T. York Anglican

117

16 March 1918

Mostyn Pryce-Jones
Gladys Mary Baird

Mostyn Pryce-Jones
Gladys Mary Baird
💍 1918/337

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouse Representative
School Teacher

29
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

29 years
3 years

St Paul's Church Christchurch

870

16 March 1918

Rev J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	117
Date of Notice	16 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mostyn Pryce-Jones	Gladys Mary Baird
	💍 1918/337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouse Representative	School Teacher
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	29 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	870
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson Presbyterian

118

16 March 1918

Robert Arthur Barston
Mary Beatrice Fuller

Robert Arthur Barstow
Mary Beatrice Fuller
💍 1918/338

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years

St Mary's Church Merivale

871

16 March 1918

Rev A. Hore Anglican

No	118
Date of Notice	16 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Arthur Barston	Mary Beatrice Fuller
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Arthur Barstow	Mary Beatrice Fuller
	💍 1918/338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence		23 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	871
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Hore Anglican

119

16 March 1918

William Edward Knott
Daisy Adelaide Smith

William Edward Knott
Daisy Adelaide Smith
💍 1918/339

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

37
25

Christchurch
Sydenham

10 days
2 weeks

Registrar's Office Christchurch

872

16 March 1918

Registrar

No	119
Date of Notice	16 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Knott	Daisy Adelaide Smith
	💍 1918/339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	10 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	872
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

120

19 March 1918

Francis Albion Bell
Ida Mary Anderson

Francis Albion Bell
Ida Marky Anderson
💍 1918/340

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal Worker

27
23

Belfast
Christchurch

18 years
15 years

Residence of Rev J. Paterson 346 Worcester Street Christchurch

873

19 March 1918

Rev J. Paterson Presbyterian

No	120
Date of Notice	19 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Albion Bell	Ida Mary Anderson
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Albion Bell	Ida Marky Anderson
	💍 1918/340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal Worker
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Belfast	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J. Paterson 346 Worcester Street Christchurch
Folio	873
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).