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 2245

District of Waimate Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar N. L. Thomas

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

26 October 1918

Walter Scott Inglis
Lilian Lenton Cox

Walter Scott Inglis
Lilian Lenton Cox
💍 1918/6319

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
25

Willowbridge
Willowbridge

5 years
6 years

Residence of S. Cox Willowbridge

6097

26 October 1918

John Awdry Julius, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	26 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Scott Inglis	Lilian Lenton Cox
	💍 1918/6319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Willowbridge	Willowbridge
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of S. Cox Willowbridge
Folio	6097
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1918
Officiating Minister	John Awdry Julius, Church of England

9 November 1918

Harold Cecil Nicholas
Robina Jessie Brien

Harold Cecil Nicholas
Robina Jessie Brien
💍 1918/6320

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

26
22

Hook
Waimate

since birth
since birth

Church of England Waimate

6098

9 November 1918

John Awdry Julius, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	9 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Cecil Nicholas	Robina Jessie Brien
	💍 1918/6320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Hook	Waimate
Length of Residence	since birth	since birth
Marriage Place	Church of England Waimate
Folio	6098
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1918
Officiating Minister	John Awdry Julius, Church of England

16 November 1918

Frederick John Meyer
Olive Ivy Menzies

Frederick John Meyer
Olive Ivy Menzies
💍 1918/6321

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Nurse

37
26

Waimate
Waimate

37 years
8 years

St Augustines Church Waimate

6099

16 November 1918

John Awdry Julius, Church of England, Waimate

No	26
Date of Notice	16 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Meyer	Olive Ivy Menzies
	💍 1918/6321
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	37 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church Waimate
Folio	6099
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1918
Officiating Minister	John Awdry Julius, Church of England, Waimate

25 November 1918

William John Hosking
Catherine Martin

William John Hosking
Catherine Martin
💍 1918/6322

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
25

Waimate
Waimate

since birth
3 years

St Patricks Church Waimate

6100

25 November 1918

Father Stewart, Catholic Priest

No	27
Date of Notice	25 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Hosking	Catherine Martin
	💍 1918/6322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Waimate
Length of Residence	since birth	3 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Church Waimate
Folio	6100
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Father Stewart, Catholic Priest

11 December 1918

Alexander Phillips
Laura Gertrude Wright

Alexander Phillips
Laura Gertrude Wright
💍 1918/6330

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
26

Meadows
Willowbridge

since birth
8 years

Residence of Rev. A. N. Scotter Waimate

6101

11 December 1918

A. N. Scotter, Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	11 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Phillips	Laura Gertrude Wright
	💍 1918/6330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Meadows	Willowbridge
Length of Residence	since birth	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. A. N. Scotter Waimate
Folio	6101
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1918
Officiating Minister	A. N. Scotter, Methodist

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).