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 1948

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

19 February 1918

Lars Christian Bernhard Fuldseth
Annie Webster

Allan Douglas Willson
Annie Webster
💍 1919/1674

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Nurse

35
30

Kaiapoi
Christchurch

3 years
18 months

Dwelling of Mrs Boag, Burnside Road, Fendalton

630

19 February 1918

Rev G. Miller, Presbyterian

No	76
Date of Notice	19 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lars Christian Bernhard Fuldseth	Annie Webster
BDM Match (61%)	Allan Douglas Willson	Annie Webster
	💍 1919/1674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Nurse
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Boag, Burnside Road, Fendalton
Folio	630
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Miller, Presbyterian

20 February 1918

Cecil Alfred Greenwood Jones
Muriel Radford Robertson

Cecil Alfred Greenwood Jones
Muriel Readford Robertson
💍 1918/1093

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Tailoress

24
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2-1/2 years

Residence of Mr R. Robertson, 263 Wilson's Road, Christchurch

631

Radford Robertson Father

20 February 1918

Rev H. A. Job, Congregational

No	77
Date of Notice	20 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Alfred Greenwood Jones	Muriel Radford Robertson
BDM Match (98%)	Cecil Alfred Greenwood Jones	Muriel Readford Robertson
	💍 1918/1093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Tailoress
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2-1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. Robertson, 263 Wilson's Road, Christchurch
Folio	631
Consent	Radford Robertson Father
Date of Certificate	20 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev H. A. Job, Congregational

20 February 1918

Cyril Gladstone Thomas Newsome
Grace Mary McLean

Cyril Gladstone Thomas Newsome
Grace Mary McLean
💍 1918/1094

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

19
20

Christchurch
Sydenham

19 years
1 year

Registrar's Office Christchurch

632

Thomas Newsome Father; No person in N.Z. has authority by law to give consent

7 March 1918

Registrar

No	78
Date of Notice	20 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Gladstone Thomas Newsome	Grace Mary McLean
	💍 1918/1094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	19 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	632
Consent	Thomas Newsome Father; No person in N.Z. has authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

22 February 1918

William Julian Hood
Christina Kent

William Julian Wood
Christina Kent
💍 1918/1095

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

23
25

Templeton
Templeton

23 years
1 year

Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

633

22 February 1918

Rev P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	79
Date of Notice	22 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Julian Hood	Christina Kent
BDM Match (97%)	William Julian Wood	Christina Kent
	💍 1918/1095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Templeton	Templeton
Length of Residence	23 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	633
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev P. N. Knight, Methodist

22 February 1918

James Gordon Anderson
Louisa Jane Smith

James Gordon Anderson
Louisa Jane Smith
💍 1918/1096

Bachelor
Widow

Driver
Dressmaker

44
43

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
1 year

Residence of Rev C. E. Ward, 116 Canon Street, St Albans

634

22 February 1918

Rev C. E. Ward, Methodist

No	80
Date of Notice	22 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gordon Anderson	Louisa Jane Smith
	💍 1918/1096
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Driver	Dressmaker
Age	44	43
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev C. E. Ward, 116 Canon Street, St Albans
Folio	634
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C. E. Ward, Methodist

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).