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 2293

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar [illegible]

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

23 August 1919

John Thomas Corbitt
Mary Ann McDowell

John Thomas Corbitt
Mary Ann McDowell
💍 1919/6739

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
30

Greenstreet
Allenton

34 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

6222

23 August 1919

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	23 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Corbitt	Mary Ann McDowell
	💍 1919/6739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Greenstreet	Allenton
Length of Residence	34 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	6222
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

23 August 1919

Edward Charles Baker
Florence Storrier

Edward Charles Baker
Florence Storrier
💍 1919/6740

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

27
23

Ashburton
Hampstead

27 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

6223

23 August 1919

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	23 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Charles Baker	Florence Storrier
	💍 1919/6740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	6223
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

25 August 1919

Cyril Roy Golding
Margaret Patience Wright

Cyril Roy Golding
Margaret Patience Wright
💍 1919/7151

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic Duties

32
26

Ashburton
Lagmhor

3 days
3 years

Lagmhor Church Presbyterian

6663

25 August 1919

Rev. William Marshall, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	25 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Roy Golding	Margaret Patience Wright
	💍 1919/7151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic Duties
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Lagmhor
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Lagmhor Church Presbyterian
Folio	6663
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Marshall, Presbyterian

26 August 1919

Reginald Toogood Coward
Sarah McCann

Reginald Toogood Coward
Sarah McCann
💍 1919/6741

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

30
30

Westerfield
Westerfield

20 years
30 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6224

26 August 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	26 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Toogood Coward	Sarah McCann
	💍 1919/6741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Westerfield	Westerfield
Length of Residence	20 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6224
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

28 August 1919

Edward Walter George Coker
Marguereta Christine Glover

Edward Walter George Coker
Margareta Christina Glover
💍 1919/6742

Widower
Spinster

Printers Machinist
Saleswoman

29
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

12 Years
2 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

6225

28 August 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	53
Date of Notice	28 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Walter George Coker	Marguereta Christine Glover
BDM Match (94%)	Edward Walter George Coker	Margareta Christina Glover
	💍 1919/6742
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printers Machinist	Saleswoman
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 Years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6225
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 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)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).