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 2039

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar G. C. 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

6 October 1919

Nathanial Budge Griffin
Hilda May Colvin

Nathanial Budge Griffin
Hilda May Colvin
💍 1919/9268

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Supervisor Telephone Exchange

31
27

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
2 years

Presbyterian Manse, Springlands, Blenheim

19/8981

6 October 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathanial Budge Griffin	Hilda May Colvin
	💍 1919/9268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Supervisor Telephone Exchange
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Springlands, Blenheim
Folio	19/8981
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

7 October 1919

Frederick Charles Brown
Doris Gilling

Frederick Charles Brown
Doris Gilling
💍 1919/9269

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

27
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

27 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

19/8982

7 October 1919

Mr. G. C. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

No	58
Date of Notice	7 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Brown	Doris Gilling
	💍 1919/9269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	19/8982
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. C. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

13 October 1919

Arthur Agustus Wilson
Elizabeth Henrietta Gollop

Arthur Agustus Wilson
Elizabeth Henrietta Gollop
💍 1919/9247

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic

21
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

19/8983

13 October 1919

Mr. G. C. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

No	59
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Agustus Wilson	Elizabeth Henrietta Gollop
	💍 1919/9247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	19/8983
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. C. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

16 October 1919

William Thomas Lee
Emma Louise Clements

William Thomas Lee
Emma Louise Clements
💍 1919/9248

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Nurse

30
34

Waihopai
Bank House, Waihopai

7 years
5 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

19/8984

16 October 1919

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

No	60
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Lee	Emma Louise Clements
	💍 1919/9248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Nurse
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Waihopai	Bank House, Waihopai
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	19/8984
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

21 October 1919

Robert Campbell Raikes
Vera Maion

Robert Campbell Raikes
Vera Nairn
💍 1919/9249

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

26
26

Wellington
Blenheim

7 months
Life

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

19/8985

21 October 1919

Mr. G. C. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

No	61
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Campbell Raikes	Vera Maion
BDM Match (90%)	Robert Campbell Raikes	Vera Nairn
	💍 1919/9249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Blenheim
Length of Residence	7 months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	19/8985
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. C. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

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).