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 1954

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

106

9 March 1918

Thomas Joseph Rowley
Florence Elizabeth Watson

Thomas Joseph Rowley
Florence Elizabeth Ibbotson
💍 1918/349

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Telephone Operator

42
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days

St Matthew's Church, St Albans

659

9 March 1918

Rev A Hore, Anglican

No	106
Date of Notice	9 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joseph Rowley	Florence Elizabeth Watson
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Joseph Rowley	Florence Elizabeth Ibbotson
	💍 1918/349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Telephone Operator
Age	42	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence		3 days
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, St Albans
Folio	659
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A Hore, Anglican

107

9 March 1918

James Carter
Jane Summerton

James Carter
Jane Summerton
💍 1918/326

Widower, May 1903
Widow, 22 December 1912

Fisherman

54
58

Sumner
Linwood

54 years
38 years Christchurch

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

660

9 March 1918

Registrar

No	107
Date of Notice	9 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Carter	Jane Summerton
	💍 1918/326
Condition	Widower, May 1903	Widow, 22 December 1912
Profession	Fisherman
Age	54	58
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Linwood
Length of Residence	54 years	38 years Christchurch
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	660
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

108

11 March 1918

William Suttie
Marguerite Alice Hall

William Suttie
Marguerite Alice Hall
💍 1918/327

Bachelor
Widow, 11 March 1902

Bricklayer

41
35

Spreydon
Spreydon

13 years
3 years Christchurch

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

661

11 March 1918

Registrar

No	108
Date of Notice	11 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Suttie	Marguerite Alice Hall
	💍 1918/327
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 11 March 1902
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	41	35
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years Christchurch
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	661
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

109

11 March 1918

Arthur Osborne
Ivy Bertha Tulley

Arthur Osborne
Ivy Bertha Tulley
💍 1918/328

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

36
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
20 years Christchurch

St Luke's Church, Christchurch

662

11 March 1918

Rev F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	109
Date of Notice	11 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Osborne	Ivy Bertha Tulley
	💍 1918/328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years Christchurch
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	662
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. N. Taylor, Anglican

110

12 March 1918

Oliver John Davison
Joanna Kavanagh

Oliver John Davison
Joanna Kavanagh
💍 1918/329

Bachelor
Spinster

Millwright

21
25

Christchurch
St Martin's

21 years
4 years Christchurch

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Barbados Street, Christchurch

663

12 March 1918

Rev J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	110
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver John Davison	Joanna Kavanagh
	💍 1918/329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millwright
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St Martin's
Length of Residence	21 years	4 years Christchurch
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Barbados Street, Christchurch
Folio	663
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

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).