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 1936

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

9 January 1918

David Bennett
Mary Gertrude Carmichael

David Bennett
Mary Gertrude Carmichael
💍 1918/1059

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Packer

24
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
8 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

571

9 January 1918

Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	9 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Bennett	Mary Gertrude Carmichael
	💍 1918/1059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Packer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	571
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

11 January 1918

Edward Albert Dowle
Catherine Quickenden

Edward Albert Dowie
Catherine Quickenden
💍 1918/1060

Bachelor
Widow

Accountant (Soldier)

31
40

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 1/2 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

572

11 January 1918

Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	11 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Albert Dowle	Catherine Quickenden
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Albert Dowie	Catherine Quickenden
	💍 1918/1060
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Accountant (Soldier)
Age	31	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	572
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

14 January 1918

John Fahey
Margaret Mary Somerville

John Fahey
Margaret Mary Somerville
💍 1918/1061

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

36
28

Christchurch
Templeton

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

573

14 January 1918

Rev. D. Leen, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	14 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fahey	Margaret Mary Somerville
	💍 1918/1061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Templeton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	573
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Leen, Roman Catholic

14 January 1918

John Arthur Woods
Irene Emily May Peary

John Arthur Woods
Irene Emily May Feary
💍 1918/201

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

33
23

Christchurch
Riccarton

3 days
11 days

St Michael's Church Christchurch

574

14 January 1918

Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	19
Date of Notice	14 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur Woods	Irene Emily May Peary
BDM Match (98%)	John Arthur Woods	Irene Emily May Feary
	💍 1918/201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 days	11 days
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	574
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

15 January 1918

Jonathan Samuel Dales
Emma Davenport

Jonathan Samuel Dales
Emma Davenport
💍 1918/212

Widower
Spinster

Sexton

46
52

Sydenham
Sydenham

10 years
51 years

St Saviour's Church Sydenham

575

15 January 1918

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	15 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Samuel Dales	Emma Davenport
	💍 1918/212
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sexton
Age	46	52
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	10 years	51 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	575
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

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).