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 2220

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 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

12 April 1918

Alexander Black
Julie Rubina Ayers

Alexander Black
Julie Rubina Ayers
💍 1918/3695

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic

38
19

Hunter
Hunter

2 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Timaru

3076

Alfred Thomas Ayers, Father

12 April 1918

J. McKittrick, Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	12 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Black	Julie Rubina Ayers
	💍 1918/3695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic
Age	38	19
Dwelling Place	Hunter	Hunter
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	3076
Consent	Alfred Thomas Ayers, Father
Date of Certificate	12 April 1918
Officiating Minister	J. McKittrick, Registrar

16 April 1918

Robert William Anderson
Florence Edith Rackham

Robert William Anderson
Florence Edith Rackham
💍 1918/3706

Bachelor
Spinster

Government meat Inspector

27
28

Timaru
Timaru

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Timaru

3077

16 April 1918

Rev. P. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	16 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Anderson	Florence Edith Rackham
	💍 1918/3706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Government meat Inspector
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Timaru
Folio	3077
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. R. Harries, Presbyterian

22 April 1918

Ronald Edward Medlicott
Esther Agnes Parr

Ronald Edward McIlwrick
Esther Agnes Parr
💍 1918/3713

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Schoolteacher

28
25

Otaio
Timaru

28 years
4 years

St Mary's (Anglican) Church, Timaru

3078

22 April 1918

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	22 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Edward Medlicott	Esther Agnes Parr
BDM Match (85%)	Ronald Edward McIlwrick	Esther Agnes Parr
	💍 1918/3713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Schoolteacher
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Otaio	Timaru
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's (Anglican) Church, Timaru
Folio	3078
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

30 April 1918

Murray Wodehouse Puiaki Blathwayt
Jenny Harrison

Murray Wodehouse Puiaki Blathwayt
Jenny Harrison
💍 1918/3714

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

30
29

Timaru
Timaru

2 days
3 days

St Mary's (Anglican) Church, Timaru

3079

30 April 1918

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	30 April 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murray Wodehouse Puiaki Blathwayt	Jenny Harrison
	💍 1918/3714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's (Anglican) Church, Timaru
Folio	3079
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

18 May 1918

Hugh Ritchie
Kathleen Minola Gibson

Hugh Ritchie
Kathleen Minola Gibson
💍 1918/3715

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Shop Assistant

19
19

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
7 days

Presbyterian Manse, Timaru

3080

alice Ritchie, mother; David Thomas Gibson, Father

18 May 1918

Rev. P. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	18 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Ritchie	Kathleen Minola Gibson
	💍 1918/3715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Shop Assistant
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Timaru
Folio	3080
Consent	alice Ritchie, mother; David Thomas Gibson, Father
Date of Certificate	18 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. R. Harries, 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).