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 1806

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar S. Tyson

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

25 October 1918

George Edward Osborne
Lillie Dillon

George Edward Osborne
Lillie Dillon
💍 1918/6304

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Waitress

26
25

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Office of Registrar, Nelson

18/5982

25 October 1918

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

No	53
Date of Notice	25 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Osborne	Lillie Dillon
	💍 1918/6304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Waitress
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Nelson
Folio	18/5982
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

1 November 1918

George William Jack
Ebe Konehu Kahiwi Brown

George William Jack
Ebe Kinehu Kahawa Brown
💍 1918/6305

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic duties

28
27

Nelson
Nelson

26 years
27 years

Cathedral, Nelson

18/5983

1 November 1918

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	1 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Jack	Ebe Konehu Kahiwi Brown
BDM Match (94%)	George William Jack	Ebe Kinehu Kahawa Brown
	💍 1918/6305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	26 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	18/5983
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

1 November 1918

Frederick Stratford
Mary Ann Murcott

Frederick Stratford
Mary Ann Murcott
💍 1918/6282

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

71
61

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Office of Registrar, Nelson

18/5984

1 November 1918

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

No	55
Date of Notice	1 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Stratford	Mary Ann Murcott
	💍 1918/6282
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	71	61
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Nelson
Folio	18/5984
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar

6 November 1918

Albert Victor Harris
May Frances Bradford

Albert Victor Harris
May Frances Bradford
💍 1918/6283

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic duties

22
18

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
5 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

18/5985

Charles Gideon Bradford - Father

6 November 1918

Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

No	56
Date of Notice	6 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Victor Harris	May Frances Bradford
	💍 1918/6283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	18/5985
Consent	Charles Gideon Bradford - Father
Date of Certificate	6 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. J. McGrath, Roman Catholic

6 November 1918

Hugh Smith
Victoria Amelia Collins

Hugh Smith
Victoria Amelia Collins
💍 1918/6284

Bachelor
Widow

Draper's Assistant
Housekeeper

41
40

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
4 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

18/5986

6 November 1918

Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

No	57
Date of Notice	6 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Smith	Victoria Amelia Collins
	💍 1918/6284
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Housekeeper
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	18/5986
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

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).