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 2165

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar S. Tyson

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 December 1919

David Richard Rhys Davies
Florence May Sykes

David Richard Rhys Davies
Florence May Sykes
💍 1919/4663

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder
Domestic Duties

34
20

Stoke
Stoke

3 days
3 years

Baptist Church, Nelson

19/9047

Charles Henry Sykes, Father

5 December 1919

Rev. John Laird, Baptist

No	94
Date of Notice	5 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Richard Rhys Davies	Florence May Sykes
	💍 1919/4663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder	Domestic Duties
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	19/9047
Consent	Charles Henry Sykes, Father
Date of Certificate	5 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Laird, Baptist

8 December 1919

Ernest William Gifford
Katie Vida Snowden

Ernest William Gifford
Katie Vida Snowden
💍 1919/4664

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
26

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
8 months

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

19/9048

8 December 1919

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	95
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Gifford	Katie Vida Snowden
	💍 1919/4664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	19/9048
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

8 December 1919

Maurice Joseph Rowling
Brenda Ada Dinan

Maurice Joseph Rowling
Brenda Ada Dinan
💍 1919/4665

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower
Milliner

27
21

Tahunanui
Tahunanui

14 days
14 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

19/9049

8 December 1919

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	96
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Joseph Rowling	Brenda Ada Dinan
	💍 1919/4665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower	Milliner
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Tahunanui	Tahunanui
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	19/9049
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

8 December 1919

Joseph David Robertson
Ellen Louisa Gosling

Joseph David Robertson
Ellen Louisa Gosling
💍 1919/8368

Widower 6th December 1915
Spinster

Timber Merchant
Nurse

53
46

Nelson
Wellington

28 years

St John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington

19/8020

8 December 1919

Rev. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph David Robertson	Ellen Louisa Gosling
	💍 1919/8368
Condition	Widower 6th December 1915	Spinster
Profession	Timber Merchant	Nurse
Age	53	46
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	19/8020
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

17 December 1919

Leslie Hamilton Kemp
Daisy Isabel Woolhouse

Leslie Hamilton Kemp
Daisy Isabel Woolhouse
💍 1919/4666

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill-hand
Housemaid

22
20

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
4 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

19/9050

James Woolhouse, Father

17 December 1919

Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	98
Date of Notice	17 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Hamilton Kemp	Daisy Isabel Woolhouse
	💍 1919/4666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill-hand	Housemaid
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	19/9050
Consent	James Woolhouse, Father
Date of Certificate	17 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

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).