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 2035

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar B. C. B. Butcher

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

1 July 1919

Laurence Tatley Watson
Harriet Ruth Flanders

Laurence Tatley Watson
Harriet Ruth Flanders
💍 1919/6645

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

21
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

21 years
13 years

Residence of Mr. Frederick Batchelor, Hawkshaw St., Blenheim

19/6104

1 July 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	40
Date of Notice	1 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Tatley Watson	Harriet Ruth Flanders
	💍 1919/6645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	21 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Frederick Batchelor, Hawkshaw St., Blenheim
Folio	19/6104
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

24 July 1919

Francis William Costello
Mona Mary McConway

Francis William Costello
Mona Mary McConway
💍 1919/6646

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

29
20

Seddon
Blenheim

18 years
18 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

19/6105

James Freeborn Bennett, Guardian legally appointed

24 July 1919

Rev. J. Herring, Roman Catholic

No	41
Date of Notice	24 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Costello	Mona Mary McConway
	💍 1919/6646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Blenheim
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/6105
Consent	James Freeborn Bennett, Guardian legally appointed
Date of Certificate	24 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Herring, Roman Catholic

28 July 1919

Harry Jones Williams
Ethel Gilman Gardiner

Harry Jones Williams
Edith Gilman Gardiner
💍 1919/6647

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic

31
27

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church Blenheim

19/6106

28 July 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	42
Date of Notice	28 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Jones Williams	Ethel Gilman Gardiner
BDM Match (91%)	Harry Jones Williams	Edith Gilman Gardiner
	💍 1919/6647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Blenheim
Folio	19/6106
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

29 July 1919

Ernest William Patchett
Lillian Madge Millard

Ernest William Patchett
Lillian Madge Millard
💍 1919/6648

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter
Domestic

24
23

Grovetown
Grovetown

24 years
23 years

Church of England, Grovetown

19/6107

29 July 1919

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	29 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Patchett	Lillian Madge Millard
	💍 1919/6648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Grovetown
Folio	19/6107
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

1 August 1919

Harry Edmund Hodson
Marjorie Harriot Humfrey

Harry Edmund Hodson
Marjorie Harriot Humfrey
💍 1919/5401

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Clerk

41
32

Blenheim
Lower Hutt

37 years
32 years

St. James English Church, Lower Hutt

19/4734

1 August 1919

Rev. A. L. Hansell, Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	1 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Edmund Hodson	Marjorie Harriot Humfrey
	💍 1919/5401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Clerk
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	37 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. James English Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	19/4734
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell, Church of England

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).