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 2691

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 December 1918 Registrar F. G. Peter

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

114

30 October 1918

Stanley Gautney Rachel
Clare Johnston Carswell

Stanley Fawkner Clare
Rachel Johnstone Carswell
💍 1918/6443

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic

59
34

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 years

Residence of Mr B. Larnach, 2 Thomas Road, Invercargill

6178

30 October 1918

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	114
Date of Notice	30 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Gautney Rachel	Clare Johnston Carswell
BDM Match (68%)	Stanley Fawkner Clare	Rachel Johnstone Carswell
	💍 1918/6443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic
Age	59	34
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr B. Larnach, 2 Thomas Road, Invercargill
Folio	6178
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

115

4 November 1918

Alexander Smith Henderson
Irene Winifred Mellis

Alexander Smith Henderson
Irene Winifred Mills
💍 1918/6462

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

21
20

Te Anau bank
Te Anau bank

2 months
3 months

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

6245

George Henry [illegible], father

4 November 1918

Registrar

No	115
Date of Notice	4 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Smith Henderson	Irene Winifred Mellis
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander Smith Henderson	Irene Winifred Mills
	💍 1918/6462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Te Anau bank	Te Anau bank
Length of Residence	2 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	6245
Consent	George Henry [illegible], father
Date of Certificate	4 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

116

6 November 1918

George Anderson
Isabella Catto

George Anderson
Isabella Catto
💍 1918/6444

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill

6179

6 November 1918

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	116
Date of Notice	6 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Anderson	Isabella Catto
	💍 1918/6444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee St, Invercargill
Folio	6179
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

117

11 November 1918

Herbert George Stewart
Alice Shannon Sands

Herbert George Stewart
Alice Marion Sands
💍 1918/6445

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

23
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 years
12 years

Residence of Mrs G. Clement, 12 Elles Road, Invercargill

6180

11 November 1918

Rev. G. Clement

No	117
Date of Notice	11 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert George Stewart	Alice Shannon Sands
BDM Match (89%)	Herbert George Stewart	Alice Marion Sands
	💍 1918/6445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs G. Clement, 12 Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	6180
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement

118

15 November 1918

Albert Edward Fraser
Alice Violet Gainey

Albert Edward Fraser
Alice Violet Gainey
💍 1918/6446

Bachelor
Spinster

Undertaker
Household duties

31
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

30 years
3 years

Residence of Rev. H. W. Burridge, 3 Earnslaw St, Invercargill

6181

15 November 1918

Rev. H. W. Burridge

No	118
Date of Notice	15 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Fraser	Alice Violet Gainey
	💍 1918/6446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Undertaker	Household duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. H. W. Burridge, 3 Earnslaw St, Invercargill
Folio	6181
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge

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).