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 2297

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 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

4 October 1919

Albert Sutton
Agnes Lockhart

Albert Sutton
Agnes Lockhard
💍 1919/9351

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

22
22

Ashburton
Allenton

20 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

9115

4 October 1919

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	61
Date of Notice	4 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Sutton	Agnes Lockhart
BDM Match (96%)	Albert Sutton	Agnes Lockhard
	💍 1919/9351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	9115
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

8 October 1919

Howard James Tunnicliffe
Louisa Jane Cox

Howard James Tunnicliffe
Louisa Jane Cox
💍 1919/9352

Bachelor
Spinster

Tent maker
Domestic duties

25
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
25 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

9116

8 October 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

No	62
Date of Notice	8 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howard James Tunnicliffe	Louisa Jane Cox
	💍 1919/9352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tent maker	Domestic duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	9116
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Church of England

13 October 1919

John Humphrey Robertson
Margaret Florence Moore

John Humphrey Robertson
Margaret Florence Moore
💍 1919/9353

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
22

Windermere
Lynnford

34 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Hinds

9117

13 October 1919

Rev. W. Marshall, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	13 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Humphrey Robertson	Margaret Florence Moore
	💍 1919/9353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Windermere	Lynnford
Length of Residence	34 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hinds
Folio	9117
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Marshall, Presbyterian

15 October 1919

Thomas McIee
Beatrice Body

Thomas McGee
Beatrice Body
💍 1919/9354

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
18

Winslow
Winslow

20 years
18 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

9118

Richard Body, father of minor

15 October 1919

W. W. White, Registrar, Ashburton

No	64
Date of Notice	15 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McIee	Beatrice Body
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas McGee	Beatrice Body
	💍 1919/9354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Winslow	Winslow
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	9118
Consent	Richard Body, father of minor
Date of Certificate	15 October 1919
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar, Ashburton

21 October 1919

Ian Alexander Mackintosh
Harriet Victoria Stoddart

Ian Alexander Mackintosh
Harriet Victoria Stoddart
💍 1919/9355

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Governess

22
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
1 month

At the dwelling of John Shearer, 22 Aitken St, Ashburton

9119

21 October 1919

Rev. T. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	65
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ian Alexander Mackintosh	Harriet Victoria Stoddart
	💍 1919/9355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Governess
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of John Shearer, 22 Aitken St, Ashburton
Folio	9119
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Vealie, 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).