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 2263

District of Balclutha Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar Geo. Clinch

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

2 January 1918

William McFarlane
Frances Matilda Beale

William McFarlane
Frances Matilda Beale
💍 1918/1868

Widower 28/10/1913
Widow 21/10/1906

Gardener
Domestic Duties

57
67

Balclutha
Balclutha

4 days
10 weeks

Railway Private Hotel Balclutha

1405

2 January 1918

Rev. S. W. Currie, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McFarlane	Frances Matilda Beale
	💍 1918/1868
Condition	Widower 28/10/1913	Widow 21/10/1906
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	57	67
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Balclutha
Length of Residence	4 days	10 weeks
Marriage Place	Railway Private Hotel Balclutha
Folio	1405
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Currie, Presbyterian

26 January 1918

Alexander Dyson Robinson
Effie Isabel Abernethy

Alexander Ayson Robinson
Effie Isabel Abernethy
💍 1918/1869

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
20

Toiro
Toiro

28 years
9 months

Registrar's Office Balclutha

1406

Jeremiah William Abernethy, Father

26 January 1918

Geo. Clinch, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	26 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Dyson Robinson	Effie Isabel Abernethy
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Ayson Robinson	Effie Isabel Abernethy
	💍 1918/1869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Toiro	Toiro
Length of Residence	28 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Balclutha
Folio	1406
Consent	Jeremiah William Abernethy, Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Geo. Clinch, Registrar

12 February 1918

Richard Henry Blackmore
Lottie Mary Revena Robertson

Richard Henry Blackmore
Lottie Mary Revena Robertson
💍 1918/1870

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Postmistress

24
21

Balclutha
Balclutha

4 days
4 days

Residence of E. Coxon Balclutha

1407

12 February 1918

Rev. John Perkins, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	12 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Blackmore	Lottie Mary Revena Robertson
	💍 1918/1870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Postmistress
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Balclutha
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of E. Coxon Balclutha
Folio	1407
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Perkins, Church of England

26 February 1918

George Ellis Bruce Bennington
Florence Clifford

George Ellis Bruce Bennington
Florence Clifford
💍 1918/1871

Widower 28/5/1915
Widow 21/12/1912

Fellmonger
Domestic Duties

35
38

Balclutha
Balclutha

1 year
3 years

Registrar's Office Balclutha

1408

26 February 1918

Geo. Clinch, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	26 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ellis Bruce Bennington	Florence Clifford
	💍 1918/1871
Condition	Widower 28/5/1915	Widow 21/12/1912
Profession	Fellmonger	Domestic Duties
Age	35	38
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Balclutha
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Balclutha
Folio	1408
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Geo. Clinch, Registrar

21 March 1918

Thomas Augustus Rodgers
Catherine Mill

Thomas Augustas Rodgers
Catherine Mill
💍 1918/1872

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic Duties

26
25

Balclutha
Balclutha

12 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church Balclutha

1409

21 March 1918

Rev. S. W. Currie, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	21 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Augustus Rodgers	Catherine Mill
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Augustas Rodgers	Catherine Mill
	💍 1918/1872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Balclutha
Length of Residence	12 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Balclutha
Folio	1409
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Currie, Presbyterian

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).