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 2317

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1919

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

5 February 1919

William Aloysius Kitson
Mary Doyle

William Aloysius Kitson
Mary Doyle
💍 1919/922

William Henry Gunn
Mary Doyle
💍 1919/8055

Widower 8/12/14
Spinster

Clerk
Dispenser

38
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
9 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

773

5 February 1919

Rev. J. A. Kennedy R. C.

No	71
Date of Notice	5 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Aloysius Kitson	Mary Doyle
	💍 1919/922
BDM Match (72%)	William Henry Gunn	Mary Doyle
	💍 1919/8055
Condition	Widower 8/12/14	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dispenser
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	773
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy R. C.

6 February 1919

Sidney Perkins
Lillie Lois Thom

Sidney Perkins
Lillie Lois Thom
💍 1919/930

Widower 19/11/15
Spinster

General Cleaner

35
31

Christchurch
Linwood

3 years
9 weeks

Baptist Church Oxford Terrace Christchurch

774

6 February 1919

Rev. J. J. North Baptist

No	72
Date of Notice	6 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Perkins	Lillie Lois Thom
	💍 1919/930
Condition	Widower 19/11/15	Spinster
Profession	General Cleaner
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 years	9 weeks
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Oxford Terrace Christchurch
Folio	774
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North Baptist

6 February 1919

Thomas Edward Grogan
Vera Gladys Wilson

Thomas Edward Grogan
Vera Gladys Wilson
💍 1919/1218

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Cashier

22
21

New Brighton
New Brighton

10 months
9 years

St Mary's Church Manchester St Christchurch

1721

6 February 1919

Rev. C. H. Seymour R. C.

No	73
Date of Notice	6 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Grogan	Vera Gladys Wilson
	💍 1919/1218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Cashier
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	10 months	9 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Manchester St Christchurch
Folio	1721
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour R. C.

6 February 1919

Bert Kirkland
Doris Marian Edith Bond

Bert Kirkland
Doris Marian Edith Bond
💍 1919/941

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter and Joiner

27
23

Linwood
Linwood

3 months
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

775

6 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	74
Date of Notice	6 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Kirkland	Doris Marian Edith Bond
	💍 1919/941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter and Joiner
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	775
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

6 February 1919

Kenneth William Horton Revell
Dora Maher

Kenneth William Horton Revell
Dora Maher
💍 1919/948

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephonist

28
29

Christchurch
Ashburton

9 months
13 months

S. Saviour's Church Sydenham

776

6 February 1919

Rev. P. Revell Anglican

No	75
Date of Notice	6 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth William Horton Revell	Dora Maher
	💍 1919/948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephonist
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 months	13 months
Marriage Place	S. Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	776
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Revell Anglican

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).