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 2037

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar B. 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

5 September 1919

Richard Wilfred Sparnon
Elsie Barnes Ball

Richard Wilfred Sparnon
Elsie Barnes Ball
💍 1919/6630

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Shop Assistant

22
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
2 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

19/6113

5 September 1919

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist Church

No	50
Date of Notice	5 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Wilfred Sparnon	Elsie Barnes Ball
	💍 1919/6630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Shop Assistant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/6113
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist Church

5 September 1919

Sidney Ison Edinger
Rita May Gibson

Sidney Ison Edinger
Rita May Gibson
💍 1919/6631

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic

22
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

11 years
3 months

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

19/6114

Thomas Andrew Raymond Gibson, Father

5 September 1919

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	5 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Ison Edinger	Rita May Gibson
	💍 1919/6631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	11 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	19/6114
Consent	Thomas Andrew Raymond Gibson, Father
Date of Certificate	5 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

8 September 1919

Bernard Edmund Joseph Hoult
Vera Alice Badman

Bernard Edmund Joseph Hoult
Vera Alice Badman
💍 1919/6632

Bachelor
Spinster

Butterfactory Assistant
Domestic

21
21

Grovetown
Waikakaho

21 years
21 years

Church of England, Grovetown

19/6115

8 September 1919

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	8 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Edmund Joseph Hoult	Vera Alice Badman
	💍 1919/6632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butterfactory Assistant	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Waikakaho
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Grovetown
Folio	19/6115
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

8 September 1919

Reginald Keys Hollard
Annie May

Reginald Keys Hollard
Annie May
💍 1919/6633

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi-Driver
Tailoress

23
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 days
11 days

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

19/6116

8 September 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	53
Date of Notice	8 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Keys Hollard	Annie May
	💍 1919/6633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi-Driver	Tailoress
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 days	11 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/6116
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

11 September 1919

Ronald Ian Reid
Florence Margaret Gow

Ronald Ian Reid
Florence Margaret Gow
💍 1919/7072

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic Duties

25
24

Blenheim
Wellington

21 years
8 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, The Terrace, Wellington

19/6559

11 September 1919

Rev. S. Robertson - M.A., Presbyterian Church

No	54
Date of Notice	11 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Ian Reid	Florence Margaret Gow
	💍 1919/7072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	19/6559
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Robertson - M.A., Presbyterian Church

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).