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 1942

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

31 January 1918

Claude Percival Tibby
Kathleen McClure

Claude Percival Tibby
Kathleen McClure
💍 1918/300

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

29
21

Spreydon
Linwood

2 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

601

31 January 1918

Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	31 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Percival Tibby	Kathleen McClure
	💍 1918/300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Linwood
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	601
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

31 January 1918

James Greaney
Cecelia Miriam Nelson

James Greaney
Cecelia Miriam Nelson
💍 1918/311

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal Worker's Assistant
Clerk

38
24

Linwood
Christchurch

9 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

602

31 January 1918

Rev J. Hanrahan Roman Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	31 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Greaney	Cecelia Miriam Nelson
	💍 1918/311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal Worker's Assistant	Clerk
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	602
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Hanrahan Roman Catholic

31 January 1918

Jack Harland
Ethel Lee

Jack Harland
Ethel Lee
💍 1918/318

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

21
22

St Albans
Addington

10 years
4 years Addington

Residence of Mr J. Lee 97 Harman Street Addington

603

31 January 1918

Rev J. H. Vealie Methodist

No	48
Date of Notice	31 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Harland	Ethel Lee
	💍 1918/318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Addington
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years Addington
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Lee 97 Harman Street Addington
Folio	603
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Vealie Methodist

1 February 1918

Harold Wesley King
Gladys Bull

Harold Wesley King
Gladys Bull
💍 1918/319

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Pressman
Machinist

25
24

Spreydon
Spreydon

1 year
6 years Addington

St Mary's Church Addington

604

1 February 1918

Rev W. S. Bean Anglican

No	49
Date of Notice	1 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Wesley King	Gladys Bull
	💍 1918/319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Pressman	Machinist
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	1 year	6 years Addington
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	604
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev W. S. Bean Anglican

1 February 1918

Fredrik Simand Billington
Edith May Thornton

Fredrick Timand Billington
Edith May Thornton
💍 1918/320

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Shop Assistant

24
21

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 days
18 months Sydenham

Residence of Mrs Evans 11 Kingsley St Sydenham

605

1 February 1918

Rev C. Murray Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	1 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrik Simand Billington	Edith May Thornton
BDM Match (96%)	Fredrick Timand Billington	Edith May Thornton
	💍 1918/320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Shop Assistant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months Sydenham
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Evans 11 Kingsley St Sydenham
Folio	605
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Murray Presbyterian

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).