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 1950

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

26 February 1918

Harry Feary
Mary Jane Wheeler

Harry Feary
Mary Jane Wheeler
💍 1918/1078

Widower 10 July 1910
Widow 13 September 1915

Retired Farmer

62
57

Woolston
Woolston

6 months
2 years

St Marks Church, Opawa

640

26 February 1918

Rev H Williams Anglican

No	86
Date of Notice	26 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Feary	Mary Jane Wheeler
	💍 1918/1078
Condition	Widower 10 July 1910	Widow 13 September 1915
Profession	Retired Farmer
Age	62	57
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Opawa
Folio	640
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H Williams Anglican

26 February 1918

Hugh Graham
Ethel Augusta Wilson

Hugh Graham
Ethel Augusta Wilson
💍 1918/1079

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

20
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 days
4 months

Residence of Mr F Murdoch 110 Slater Street, St Albans

641

Hugh Robb Graham Father

26 February 1918

Rev E. P. Blamires Methodist

No	87
Date of Notice	26 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Graham	Ethel Augusta Wilson
	💍 1918/1079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	20	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr F Murdoch 110 Slater Street, St Albans
Folio	641
Consent	Hugh Robb Graham Father
Date of Certificate	26 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev E. P. Blamires Methodist

27 February 1918

Thomas Francis Chandler
Dora Florence Mauger

Thomas Francis Chandler
Dora Florence Mauger
💍 1918/1080

Widowed 7 February 1916
Spinster

Clerk N.Z.R.

36
30

Addington
Addington

2 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

642

27 February 1918

Registrar

No	88
Date of Notice	27 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Chandler	Dora Florence Mauger
	💍 1918/1080
Condition	Widowed 7 February 1916	Spinster
Profession	Clerk N.Z.R.
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	642
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

27 February 1918

Claude Turnbull Worthington
Mary Clausen

Claude Turnbull Worthington
Mary Clausen
💍 1918/1081

Widower 15 August 1911
Spinster

Agent
Dressmaker

35
37

St Albans
Papanui

17 years
37 years

St Paul's Church, Papanui

643

27 February 1918

Rev W H Orbell

No	89
Date of Notice	27 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Turnbull Worthington	Mary Clausen
	💍 1918/1081
Condition	Widower 15 August 1911	Spinster
Profession	Agent	Dressmaker
Age	35	37
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Papanui
Length of Residence	17 years	37 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	643
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W H Orbell

1 March 1918

Percy William Breach
Edith Hardman

Percy William Breach
Edith Hardman
💍 1918/1082

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Tailoress

24
23

Papanui
Sydenham

15 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

674

1 March 1918

Registrar

No	90
Date of Notice	1 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Breach	Edith Hardman
	💍 1918/1082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Tailoress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Sydenham
Length of Residence	15 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	674
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).