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 2183

District of Richmond Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar H. A. Wilson

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

18 October 1919

Arthur Hill
Estelle Lois Currin

Arthur Hill
Estelle Loris Currin
💍 1919/9303

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

44
31

Hope
Richmond

1 year
3 Months

Methodist Church Richmond

9067

18 October 1919

Rev. W. Wills, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	18 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hill	Estelle Lois Currin
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Hill	Estelle Loris Currin
	💍 1919/9303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	44	31
Dwelling Place	Hope	Richmond
Length of Residence	1 year	3 Months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Richmond
Folio	9067
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wills, Methodist

28 October 1919

Henry Pappo
Florence Etta Mercer

Henry Papps
Florence Etta Mercer
💍 1919/4653

Widower
Spinster

Wheelwright
Domestic Duties

40
26

Richmond
Nelson

30 years
24 years

All Saints Church Nelson

9038

28 October 1919

Rev. Woolstein, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Pappo	Florence Etta Mercer
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Papps	Florence Etta Mercer
	💍 1919/4653
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	Domestic Duties
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Nelson
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Nelson
Folio	9038
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Woolstein, Anglican

15 December 1919

Cyril Montague Robinson
Hazel Joe Shirtliff

Cyril Montague Robinson
Hazel Zoe Shirtliff
💍 1919/9304

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

22
19

Richmond
Richmond

22 years
19 years

Residence of James Shirtliff Richmond

9068

Jane Thomas Shirtliff

15 December 1919

Rev. B. Jarvis, Church of Christ

No	10
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Montague Robinson	Hazel Joe Shirtliff
BDM Match (97%)	Cyril Montague Robinson	Hazel Zoe Shirtliff
	💍 1919/9304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Shirtliff Richmond
Folio	9068
Consent	Jane Thomas Shirtliff
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Jarvis, Church of Christ

27 December 1919

Kenneth William Baird
Blanche Evelyn Best

Kenneth William Baird
Blanche Evelyn Best
💍 1919/9769

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Cement Chemist
Domestic Duties

31
20

Richmond
Richmond

5 days
30 years

Church of England Appleby

9363

27 December 1919

Rev John Rogers, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	27 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth William Baird	Blanche Evelyn Best
	💍 1919/9769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Cement Chemist	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	5 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Appleby
Folio	9363
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John Rogers, Church of England

29 December 1919

Hartly Valentine Palmer
Annie Eden

Hartly Valentine Palmer
Annie Eden
💍 1920/5

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
27

Hope
Hope

12 years
life

Methodist Church Hope

117/1920

29 December 1919

Rev. W. Wills, Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hartly Valentine Palmer	Annie Eden
	💍 1920/5
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Hope	Hope
Length of Residence	12 years	life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hope
Folio	117/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wills, Methodist

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).