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 2319

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

8 February 1919

Ernest Stanley Rossiter
Mabel Stapleton

Ernest Stanley Rossiter
Mabel Stapleton
💍 1919/954

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Saleswoman

26
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
26 years

St Lukes Church Christchurch

782

8 February 1919

Rev F. N. Taylor Anglican

No	81
Date of Notice	8 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Stanley Rossiter	Mabel Stapleton
	💍 1919/954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Saleswoman
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church Christchurch
Folio	782
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F. N. Taylor Anglican

10 February 1919

William Harold Brien
Mary Louisa Matthews

William Harold Brien
Mary Louisa Matthews
💍 1919/931

Bachelor
Divorced Decree absolute dated 7th February 1919

Commercial Traveller

37
30

Sumner
Sydenham

12 years
13 years

Residence of Mr Matthews 25 Longfellow Street Sydenham

783

10 February 1919

Major E. G. Newby Salvation Army

No	82
Date of Notice	10 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harold Brien	Mary Louisa Matthews
	💍 1919/931
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree absolute dated 7th February 1919
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Sydenham
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Matthews 25 Longfellow Street Sydenham
Folio	783
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Major E. G. Newby Salvation Army

11 February 1919

John Trevor Robertson
Rose Dorothy Field

John Trevor Robertson
Rose Dorothy Field
💍 1919/932

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas meter maker

30
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
7 days

St Johns Church Christchurch

784

11 February 1919

Rev. P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	83
Date of Notice	11 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Trevor Robertson	Rose Dorothy Field
	💍 1919/932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas meter maker
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Christchurch
Folio	784
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks Anglican

11 February 1919

John Henry Stringer
May Florence Smart

John Henry Stringer
May Florence Smart
💍 1919/933

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute date February 11. 1919.

Accountant
Nurse

60
41

Christchurch
Sydenham

Life
12 years

The Knox Manse 36 Bealey Avenue Christchurch

785

11 February 1919

Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	11 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Stringer	May Florence Smart
	💍 1919/933
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute date February 11. 1919.
Profession	Accountant	Nurse
Age	60	41
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	The Knox Manse 36 Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	785
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian

11 February 1919

John Percival Smith
Sylvia Joyce

John Percival Smith
Sylvia Joyce
💍 1919/934

Widower 20-11-17
Spinster

Chef.

32
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
10 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

786

11 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	85
Date of Notice	11 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Percival Smith	Sylvia Joyce
	💍 1919/934
Condition	Widower 20-11-17	Spinster
Profession	Chef.
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	786
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).