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 2685

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar J. Petrie

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

30 August 1918

Robert Gray
Elizabeth Harvey Galbraith

Robert Gray
Elizabeth Harvey Galbraith
💍 1918/5161

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Milliner

30
26

Featherston Camp
Invercargill

5 months
26 years

Bride's Residence, 11 Baird Street, Invercargill

4791

30 August 1918

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	88
Date of Notice	30 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gray	Elizabeth Harvey Galbraith
	💍 1918/5161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Milliner
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Featherston Camp	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Bride's Residence, 11 Baird Street, Invercargill
Folio	4791
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

31 August 1918

Colin Lindsay Richards
Winifred Louise Trapwell Hensley

Colin Lindsay Richards
Winifred Louisa Frapwell Hensley
💍 1918/5162

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic duties

28
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Stuart Street, Invercargill

4792

31 August 1918

Rev. A. Peters

No	89
Date of Notice	31 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Lindsay Richards	Winifred Louise Trapwell Hensley
BDM Match (97%)	Colin Lindsay Richards	Winifred Louisa Frapwell Hensley
	💍 1918/5162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Stuart Street, Invercargill
Folio	4792
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters

2 September 1918

Thomas Patrick Traynor
Eileen Timpany

Thomas Patrick Traynor
Eileen Timpany
💍 1918/5164

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

30
28

Trentham
Invercargill

1 year
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

4793

2 September 1918

Very Rev. C. O'Neill

No	90
Date of Notice	2 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Patrick Traynor	Eileen Timpany
	💍 1918/5164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	4793
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. C. O'Neill

2 September 1918

John Stanley Wright
Jessie Elizabeth Anderson

John Stanley Wright
Jessie Elizabeth Henderson
💍 1918/5165

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
20

Mataura
Invercargill

10 years
3 days

Residence of Mrs. R. Henderson, 57 Morton Road, Invercargill

4794

William Knott Henderson, Father

2 September 1918

Rev. C. Blair

No	91
Date of Notice	2 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stanley Wright	Jessie Elizabeth Anderson
BDM Match (96%)	John Stanley Wright	Jessie Elizabeth Henderson
	💍 1918/5165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. R. Henderson, 57 Morton Road, Invercargill
Folio	4794
Consent	William Knott Henderson, Father
Date of Certificate	2 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Blair

6 September 1918

Charles Herbert Simpson
Clementina Elizabeth Ferguson

Charles Herbert Simpson
Clementina Elizabeth Ferguson
💍 1918/5166

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic

42
28

Brydone Bush
Brydone Bush

5 years
28 years

Residence of James Ferguson, Brydone Bush, Invercargill

4795

6 September 1918

Rev. J. T. Young

No	92
Date of Notice	6 September 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Simpson	Clementina Elizabeth Ferguson
	💍 1918/5166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic
Age	42	28
Dwelling Place	Brydone Bush	Brydone Bush
Length of Residence	5 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Ferguson, Brydone Bush, Invercargill
Folio	4795
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Young

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).