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 2291

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar W. W. White

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

1 July 1919

George Frederick Robinson
Edith Elizabeth White

George Frederick Robinson
Edith Elizabeth White
💍 1919/6730

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Teacher

34
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
1 year

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6214

1 July 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	1 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Robinson	Edith Elizabeth White
	💍 1919/6730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Teacher
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6214
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

7 July 1919

George Frederick Clarke
Edith Matilda Wornacott

George Frederick Clarke
Edith Matilda Wonnacott
💍 1919/6731

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
18

Allenton
Allenton

3 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6215

George Wornacott, Father of Minor

7 July 1919

W. W. White, Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Clarke	Edith Matilda Wornacott
BDM Match (98%)	George Frederick Clarke	Edith Matilda Wonnacott
	💍 1919/6731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Allenton
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6215
Consent	George Wornacott, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

14 July 1919

Thomas Baker
Helen Liddle Bootten

Thomas Baker
Helen Liddle Bootten
💍 1919/6732

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

48
38

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

At the dwelling of Thomas Bootten, Ashburton

6216

14 July 1919

Rev. Samuel Bailey, Methodist

No	41
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Baker	Helen Liddle Bootten
	💍 1919/6732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	48	38
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Thomas Bootten, Ashburton
Folio	6216
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Bailey, Methodist

15 July 1919

William Francis Ford
Eva Olive Carlyle

William Francis Ford
Eva Olive Carlyle
💍 1919/6733

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep buyer
Domestic duties

53
51

Ashburton
Ashburton

19 years
4 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6217

15 July 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Ford	Eva Olive Carlyle
	💍 1919/6733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep buyer	Domestic duties
Age	53	51
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	19 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6217
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

24 July 1919

William Edwin Moore
Margaret Adelaide Arnst

William Edwin Moore
Margaret Adelaide Arnst
💍 1919/6734

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
29

Netherby
Ashburton Forks

2 years
5 years

At the dwelling of J. C. Arnst, Ashburton Forks

6218

24 July 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	24 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edwin Moore	Margaret Adelaide Arnst
	💍 1919/6734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Netherby	Ashburton Forks
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of J. C. Arnst, Ashburton Forks
Folio	6218
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

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).