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 2041

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

29 November 1919

James Thomson
Hilda Ann Smith

James Thomson
Hilda Ann Smith
💍 1919/9255

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

24 years
26 years

Residence of Mrs. McIsaac's, Springlands, Blenheim

19/8991

29 November 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	67
Date of Notice	29 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomson	Hilda Ann Smith
	💍 1919/9255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	24 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. McIsaac's, Springlands, Blenheim
Folio	19/8991
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

2 December 1919

Alfred Reynolds
Eva Kate Midgley

Alfred Reynolds
Eva Kate Midgley
💍 1919/9256

Widower 11th May 1917
Widow 16th November 1918

Labourer
Domestic

36
45

Blenheim
Blenheim

7 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

19/8992

2 December 1919

C. E. Butcher, Registrar of marriages

No	68
Date of Notice	2 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Reynolds	Eva Kate Midgley
	💍 1919/9256
Condition	Widower 11th May 1917	Widow 16th November 1918
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	45
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	19/8992
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1919
Officiating Minister	C. E. Butcher, Registrar of marriages

3 December 1919

Philip Arthur Edinger
Aileen Violet Braddock

Philip Arthur Edinger
Aileen Violet Braddock
💍 1919/9258

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

27
28

Blenheim
Blenheim

9 years
16 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

19/8993

3 December 1919

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

No	69
Date of Notice	3 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Arthur Edinger	Aileen Violet Braddock
	💍 1919/9258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	9 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	19/8993
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch G. W. York, Church of England

15 December 1919

Horace Arthur Andrews
Vera Emily McCullough

Horace Arthur Andrews
Vera Emily McCullough
💍 1919/9259

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

32
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

32 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

19/8994

15 December 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	70
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Arthur Andrews	Vera Emily McCullough
	💍 1919/9259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	32 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/8994
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

15 December 1919

Robert Thomas Earnshaw
Myrtle Florence Mears

Robert Thomas Earnshaw
Myrtle Florence Mears
💍 1919/9260

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

29
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

2 years
26 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

19/8995

15 December 1919

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist Minister

No	71
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thomas Earnshaw	Myrtle Florence Mears
	💍 1919/9260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/8995
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist Minister

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).