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 2189

District of Takaka Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar F. R. Price

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

17 July 1919

Frederick George Hambrook
Edith Dorothy James

Frederick George Hambrook
Edith Dorothy James
💍 1919/6692

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

23
21

Takaka
Takaka

Lifetime
Lifetime

At the Residence of the Bride's parents, Puramahoi, Takaka

19/6174

17 July 1919

E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	17 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Hambrook	Edith Dorothy James
	💍 1919/6692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Takaka	Takaka
Length of Residence	Lifetime	Lifetime
Marriage Place	At the Residence of the Bride's parents, Puramahoi, Takaka
Folio	19/6174
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1919
Officiating Minister	E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

8 August 1919

Robert Beardmore
Clara Mary Daykin

Robert Beardmore
Clara Mary Daykin
💍 1919/6693

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

56 years
44 years

Takaka
Takaka

55 years
6 days

At the Residence Jane Elizabeth Painter, Upper Takaka

19/6175

8 August 1919

E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	8 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Beardmore	Clara Mary Daykin
	💍 1919/6693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	56 years	44 years
Dwelling Place	Takaka	Takaka
Length of Residence	55 years	6 days
Marriage Place	At the Residence Jane Elizabeth Painter, Upper Takaka
Folio	19/6175
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1919
Officiating Minister	E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

20 August 1919

John Christopher Blake
May Florence Lovell

John Christopher Blake
May Florence Lovell
💍 1919/6701

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarryman
Domestic

27
18

Tarakohe
Tarakohe

12 months
3 years

At the Office of the Postmaster, Takaka

19/6176

Benjamin Alexander Lovell, Father

20 August 1919

F. R. Price, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	20 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Christopher Blake	May Florence Lovell
	💍 1919/6701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman	Domestic
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Tarakohe	Tarakohe
Length of Residence	12 months	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Postmaster, Takaka
Folio	19/6176
Consent	Benjamin Alexander Lovell, Father
Date of Certificate	20 August 1919
Officiating Minister	F. R. Price, Registrar

13 August 1919

Conrade Philip Palmer
Adelaide Laurel Symes

Conrade Philip Palmer
Adelaide Laurel Symes
💍 1919/6712

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

23
34

Takaka
Takaka

3 days
10 years

At the Private Residence of the Brides mother, Central Takaka

19/6177

13 August 1919

F. J. Daynes, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	13 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrade Philip Palmer	Adelaide Laurel Symes
	💍 1919/6712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	23	34
Dwelling Place	Takaka	Takaka
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	At the Private Residence of the Brides mother, Central Takaka
Folio	19/6177
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1919
Officiating Minister	F. J. Daynes, Church of England

25 August 1919

Noel Nesbit
Lena Alberta Flowers

Noel Nesbit
Lena Alberta Flowers
💍 1919/6718

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24 years
27 years

Puramahoi Takaka
Puramahoi Takaka

13 months
Lifetime

At Residence of Brides Parents, Puramahoi

19/6178

25 August 1919

E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	25 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noel Nesbit	Lena Alberta Flowers
	💍 1919/6718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Puramahoi Takaka	Puramahoi Takaka
Length of Residence	13 months	Lifetime
Marriage Place	At Residence of Brides Parents, Puramahoi
Folio	19/6178
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1919
Officiating Minister	E. H. Kedgley, 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).