Intentions to Marry, 1918 Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840480, 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.

1918f contains pages 2189-2777, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Page 2227

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar J McKittrick

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

5 August 1918

George Henry Hampton
Mary Beatrice Henderson

George Henry Hampton
Mary Beatrice Henderson
💍 1918/5071

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

34
22

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
2 years

Baptist Church, Wilson Street, Timaru

4699

5 August 1918

Rev. W. P. Lascelles, Baptist

No	53
Date of Notice	5 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hampton	Mary Beatrice Henderson
	💍 1918/5071
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Wilson Street, Timaru
Folio	4699
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Lascelles, Baptist

5 August 1918

James Sydney Boscall
Minnie Simpson

James Sydney Boxall
Minnie Simpson
💍 1918/5079

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

28
23

Timaru
Timaru

7 days
23 years

Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru

4700

5 August 1918

Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

No	54
Date of Notice	5 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sydney Boscall	Minnie Simpson
BDM Match (95%)	James Sydney Boxall	Minnie Simpson
	💍 1918/5079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bank Street, Timaru
Folio	4700
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

15 August 1918

John Buckley
Ethel Ivy Ingpen

John Buckley
Ethel Ivy Ingpen
💍 1918/5090

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Exchange clerk

31
26

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
3 years

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

4701

15 August 1918

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	55
Date of Notice	15 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Buckley	Ethel Ivy Ingpen
	💍 1918/5090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Exchange clerk
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	4701
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

8 August 1918

Charles Leslie Hanson
Ruby Eleanor Carrodus

Charles Leslie Hanson
Ruby Eleanor Carrodus
💍 1918/5096

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
25

Pareora
Pareora

20 years
2 months

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

4702

8 August 1918

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	56
Date of Notice	8 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Leslie Hanson	Ruby Eleanor Carrodus
	💍 1918/5096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Pareora	Pareora
Length of Residence	20 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	4702
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

13 August 1918

Michael Joseph Fitzgerald
Cecilia Johanna Brosnan

Michael Joseph Fitzgerald
Cecilia Johanna Brosnan
💍 1918/5097

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

31
36

Timaru
Timaru

24 years
36 years

Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

4703

13 August 1918

Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

No	57
Date of Notice	13 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Joseph Fitzgerald	Cecilia Johanna Brosnan
	💍 1918/5097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	31	36
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	24 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	4703
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tubman, 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).