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 2299

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

1 November 1919

William Duncan Lockhart
Edith Elma Watson

William Duncan Lockhard
Edith Elma Watson
💍 1919/9369

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
domestic duties

24
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

24 years
10 years

St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton

9125

1 November 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	71
Date of Notice	1 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Duncan Lockhart	Edith Elma Watson
BDM Match (98%)	William Duncan Lockhard	Edith Elma Watson
	💍 1919/9369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	24 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton
Folio	9125
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

12 November 1919

George Mulholland
Maud Alice Bryant

George Mulholland
Maud Alice Bryant
💍 1919/9380

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver N.Z.R.
domestic duties

30
27

Ashburton
Tinwald

3 days
27 years

Baring Square Church Ashburton

9126

12 November 1919

Rev. F. W. Vealie Methodist

No	72
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mulholland	Maud Alice Bryant
	💍 1919/9380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver N.Z.R.	domestic duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Tinwald
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Baring Square Church Ashburton
Folio	9126
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Vealie Methodist

18 November 1919

Cecil Bertram Anderson
Kate Agnes Keeffe

Cecil Bertram Anderson
Kate Agnes Keeffe
💍 1919/9387

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

35
34

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

9127

18 November 1919

W. W. White Registrar

No	73
Date of Notice	18 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Bertram Anderson	Kate Agnes Keeffe
	💍 1919/9387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	9127
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1919
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

19 November 1919

Malcolm McGregor McRae
Wanda Hazel McRae

Malcolm McGregor
Vanda Hazel McRae
💍 1919/9388

Bachelor
Spinster

Musterer
Domestic Duties

21
19

Ashburton
Staveley

3 days

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

9128

Thomas James Gerald McRae Father of Minor

19 November 1919

W. W. White Registrar

No	74
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm McGregor McRae	Wanda Hazel McRae
BDM Match (83%)	Malcolm McGregor	Vanda Hazel McRae
	💍 1919/9388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musterer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Staveley
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	9128
Consent	Thomas James Gerald McRae Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

21 November 1919

Hedley George Mee Watson
Margaret Matilda Jane Smith

Hedley George Mee Watson
Margaret Matilda Jane Smith
💍 1919/9389

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
24

Ashburton
Dorie

18 months
24 years

St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton

9129

21 November 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	75
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hedley George Mee Watson	Margaret Matilda Jane Smith
	💍 1919/9389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Dorie
Length of Residence	18 months	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton
Folio	9129
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 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).