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 1940

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

23 January 1918

Albert Henry Burgess
Elena Bengta Poulsen

Albert Henry Burgess
Elena Bengta Poulsen
💍 1918/210

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

23
18

Bryndwr
Styx

7 months
18 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

591

Charles Henry Poulsen, Father

23 January 1918

Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	23 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Burgess	Elena Bengta Poulsen
	💍 1918/210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Bryndwr	Styx
Length of Residence	7 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	591
Consent	Charles Henry Poulsen, Father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

24 January 1918

Bruce Glendinning
Norah Theresa Connick

Bruce Glendinning
Norah Theresa Conrick
💍 1918/211

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Confectioner

41
41

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
6 days

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

592

24 January 1918

Rev J. Walsh, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	24 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bruce Glendinning	Norah Theresa Connick
BDM Match (98%)	Bruce Glendinning	Norah Theresa Conrick
	💍 1918/211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Confectioner
Age	41	41
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	592
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Walsh, Roman Catholic

24 January 1918

Herbert Fielding
Irene Trissie Round

Herbert Fielding
Irene Trissie Round
💍 1918/213

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Machinist

20
22

Papanui
Woolston

10 years
22 years

Methodist Church Woolston

593

Ann Eliza Judd formerly Fielding, Mother

24 January 1918

Rev F Copeland, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	24 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Fielding	Irene Trissie Round
	💍 1918/213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Woolston
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Woolston
Folio	593
Consent	Ann Eliza Judd formerly Fielding, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F Copeland, Methodist

26 January 1918

Walter Hobbs
Ellen Thomson

Walter Hobbs
Ellen Thomson
💍 1918/214

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

28
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

28 years
25 years

Methodist Church Cambridge Terrace Christchurch

594

26 January 1918

Rev J Cocker, Methodist

No	39
Date of Notice	26 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hobbs	Ellen Thomson
	💍 1918/214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	28 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Cambridge Terrace Christchurch
Folio	594
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J Cocker, Methodist

26 January 1918

Alexander Lowry
Sarah Elizabeth Brocklehurst

Alexander Lowry
Sarah Elizabeth Brocklehurst
💍 1918/215

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

60
52

Christchurch
Christchurch

41 years
52 years

Dwelling of Mr. G. Brocklehurst, 570 Moorhouse Avenue Christchurch

595

26 January 1918

Rev R. A. Job, Congregational

No	40
Date of Notice	26 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Lowry	Sarah Elizabeth Brocklehurst
	💍 1918/215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	60	52
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	41 years	52 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. G. Brocklehurst, 570 Moorhouse Avenue Christchurch
Folio	595
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev R. A. Job, Congregational

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).