Intentions to Marry, 1919 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840485, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919e contains pages 2001-2520, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2025

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar W. McIntosh

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

6 January 1919

George Edward Nicholls
Ethel Eunice Handcock

George Edward Nicholls
Ethel Eunice Hancock
💍 1919/1625

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

37
32

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 months
7 years

Church of England, Blenheim

19/1354

6 January 1919

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Nicholls	Ethel Eunice Handcock
BDM Match (98%)	George Edward Nicholls	Ethel Eunice Hancock
	💍 1919/1625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Blenheim
Folio	19/1354
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

18 January 1919

Kenneth Phin Stace
Rita May Benner

Kenneth Phin Stace
Rita May Benner
💍 1919/4020

Bachelor
Spinster

Station-manager
Clerk

35
28

Seddon
Rotorua

Life
5 years

St. Paul's Anglican Church, Wellington

19/159

18 January 1919

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	18 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Phin Stace	Rita May Benner
	💍 1919/4020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station-manager	Clerk
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Rotorua
Length of Residence	Life	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Anglican Church, Wellington
Folio	19/159
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Church of England

20 January 1919

Frederick Charles Knight
Florence May Webster

Frederick Charles Knight
Florence May Webster
💍 1919/1626

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic

29
30

Grovetown
Grovetown

3 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

19/1355

20 January 1919

W. McIntosh, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages

No	3
Date of Notice	20 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Knight	Florence May Webster
	💍 1919/1626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	3 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	19/1355
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1919
Officiating Minister	W. McIntosh, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages

21 January 1919

Martin Lopez
Kate Thompson

Martin Lopez
Kate Thompson
💍 1919/1627

Bachelor
Widow (18/6/1914)

Fireman
Domestic

31
40

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

19/1356

21 January 1919

W. McIntosh, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages

No	4
Date of Notice	21 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Lopez	Kate Thompson
	💍 1919/1627
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (18/6/1914)
Profession	Fireman	Domestic
Age	31	40
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	19/1356
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1919
Officiating Minister	W. McIntosh, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages

11 February 1919

Harold George McIntosh
Jean Elizabeth Hutcheson

Harold George McIntosh
Jean Elizabeth Hutcheson
💍 1919/4030

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic duties

35
28

Blenheim
Wellington

14 years
15 days

St. John's Church Wellington

19/193

11 February 1919

Rev. D. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

No	5
Date of Notice	11 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold George McIntosh	Jean Elizabeth Hutcheson
	💍 1919/4030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic duties
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	15 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Wellington
Folio	19/193
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

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).