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 2069

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar J. C. Dale

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

12 April 1919

John McLean
Violet Esther Erridge

John McLean
Violet Esther Erridge
💍 1919/3752

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic duties

23
21

Westport
Westport

23 years
21 years

St John's Church, Church of England, Westport

19/3714

14 April 1919

J. T. Lowrie, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLean	Violet Esther Erridge
	💍 1919/3752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Church of England, Westport
Folio	19/3714
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	J. T. Lowrie, Church of England

16 April 1919

Frederick Henry Bruhn
Davina Elsie Ross

Frederick Henry Bruhn
Divina Elsie Ross
💍 1919/3812

Widower (May 1917)
Spinster

Locomotive Engineer (Stationary)
Domestic duties

34
32

Westport
Hokitika

4 years
2 years

All Saints Church of England, Hokitika

19/3798

16 April 1919

J. E. Holloway, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	16 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Bruhn	Davina Elsie Ross
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Henry Bruhn	Divina Elsie Ross
	💍 1919/3812
Condition	Widower (May 1917)	Spinster
Profession	Locomotive Engineer (Stationary)	Domestic duties
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Westport	Hokitika
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Hokitika
Folio	19/3798
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1919
Officiating Minister	J. E. Holloway, Church of England

8 May 1919

Alfred Henry Charles Kearns
Muriel Ellen Roberts

Alfred Henry Charles Kearns
Minnie Ellen Roberts
💍 1919/3753

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

21
19

Westport
Westport

21 years
2 years

Registrar's office, Westport

19/3715

William Roberts, father

8 May 1919

J. C. Dale, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	8 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Charles Kearns	Muriel Ellen Roberts
BDM Match (90%)	Alfred Henry Charles Kearns	Minnie Ellen Roberts
	💍 1919/3753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	21 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Westport
Folio	19/3715
Consent	William Roberts, father
Date of Certificate	8 May 1919
Officiating Minister	J. C. Dale, Registrar

10 May 1919

George Herbert Mulholland
Bridget Helena Forman

George Herbert Mulholland
Bridget Helena Forman
💍 1919/3754

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Waitress

22
20

Westport
Westport

20 years
16 years

Registrar's office, Westport

19/3716

Marshall Goodwin Forman, father

10 May 1919

J. C. Dale, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	10 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Mulholland	Bridget Helena Forman
	💍 1919/3754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Waitress
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Westport
Folio	19/3716
Consent	Marshall Goodwin Forman, father
Date of Certificate	10 May 1919
Officiating Minister	J. C. Dale, Registrar

13 May 1919

Peter Ambrose
Margaret Marian Smith Richardson

Peter Ambrose
Margaret Marian Smith Richardson
💍 1919/3755

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic duties

42
35

At Sea
South Spit, Westport

35 years

Residence Mrs. Richardson, South Spit

19/3717

13 May 1919

Alex. Miller, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	13 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Ambrose	Margaret Marian Smith Richardson
	💍 1919/3755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic duties
Age	42	35
Dwelling Place	At Sea	South Spit, Westport
Length of Residence		35 years
Marriage Place	Residence Mrs. Richardson, South Spit
Folio	19/3717
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Alex. Miller, Presbyterian

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).