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 2075

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 December 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

4 October 1919

John Alfred Sheridan
Doris Bowden

John Alfred Sheridan
Dorothy Emma Bowden
💍 1919/9288

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

28
21

Westport
Westport

4 days
21 years

Registrar's Office, Westport

19/9003

4 October 1919

J. C. Dale, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	4 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Sheridan	Doris Bowden
BDM Match (76%)	John Alfred Sheridan	Dorothy Emma Bowden
	💍 1919/9288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Westport
Folio	19/9003
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1919
Officiating Minister	J. C. Dale, Registrar

6 October 1919

Wellesley Ward
Eva Ethel Lines

Wellesley Ward
Eva Ethel Lines
💍 1919/9289

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Accountant

27
25

Westport
Westport

4 days
4 years

St Luke's Church of England, Westport

19/9004

6 October 1919

J. F. Coursey, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wellesley Ward	Eva Ethel Lines
	💍 1919/9289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Accountant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church of England, Westport
Folio	19/9004
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	J. F. Coursey, Church of England

10 October 1919

Reuben Henry Betts
Florence Mary Downie

Reuben Henry Betts
Florence Maud Downie
💍 1919/4660

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor-car Proprietor
Domestic duties

24
23

Westport
Murchison

24 years
23 years

Residence of M. C. Downie, Murchison

19/9027

10 October 1919

J. F. Coursey, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	10 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Henry Betts	Florence Mary Downie
BDM Match (95%)	Reuben Henry Betts	Florence Maud Downie
	💍 1919/4660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor-car Proprietor	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Westport	Murchison
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. C. Downie, Murchison
Folio	19/9027
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1919
Officiating Minister	J. F. Coursey, Church of England

13 October 1919

William Edward Getley
Lucy Luff

William Edward Getley
Lucy Luff
💍 1919/9721

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Housemaid

27
20

Giles Terrace
Giles Terrace

one month
20 years

Residence of John Luff, Giles Terrace

19/9515

John Luff, Father

13 October 1919

F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Getley	Lucy Luff
	💍 1919/9721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Housemaid
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Giles Terrace	Giles Terrace
Length of Residence	one month	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Luff, Giles Terrace
Folio	19/9515
Consent	John Luff, Father
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	F. A. Tooley, Church of England

16 October 1919

Timothy Ryan
Ada Florence Skilton

Timothy Ryan
Ada Florence Skilton
💍 1919/9290

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

31
27

Westport
Westport

31 years
27 years

St Canices Roman Catholic Church, Westport

19/9005

16 October 1919

Monsignor Thomas Walshe, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Timothy Ryan	Ada Florence Skilton
	💍 1919/9290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	31 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Canices Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	19/9005
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Monsignor Thomas Walshe, Roman Catholic

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).