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 2331

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

141

10 March 1919

James Gotham Potter
Annie Mitchell Henderson

James Gotham Potter
Annie Mitchell Henderson
💍 1919/958

Widower 27 November 1918
Spinster

Salesman

23
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 months
1 month

Registrar's Office Christchurch

835

10 March 1919

Registrar

No	141
Date of Notice	10 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gotham Potter	Annie Mitchell Henderson
	💍 1919/958
Condition	Widower 27 November 1918	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	835
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

142

10 March 1919

Wilfred Emmanuel Smith
Erena Adelaide Rebecca Pike

Wilfred Emmanuel Smith
Erena Adelaide Rebecca Pike
💍 1919/959

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

25
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 days
4 years

St Johns Church Christchurch

836

Thomas Beckett Pike, father

10 March 1919

Rev. J. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	142
Date of Notice	10 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Emmanuel Smith	Erena Adelaide Rebecca Pike
	💍 1919/959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Christchurch
Folio	836
Consent	Thomas Beckett Pike, father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Cocks, Anglican

143

10 March 1919

Joseph Francis Morrie
Elizabeth Berridge

Joseph Francis Morrice
Elizabeth Berridge
💍 1919/960

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Dressmaker

30
30

New Brighton
New Brighton

6 months
3 years

Residence of Mrs Berridge, 6 Waverley Street, New Brighton

837

10 March 1919

Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	143
Date of Notice	10 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Francis Morrie	Elizabeth Berridge
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Francis Morrice	Elizabeth Berridge
	💍 1919/960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Dressmaker
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Berridge, 6 Waverley Street, New Brighton
Folio	837
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

144

11 March 1919

Andrew Hunter
Lilly Jane Price

Andrew Hunter
Lilly Jane Price
💍 1919/961

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

31
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

18 days
18 days

St Matthews Church, St Albans

838

11 March 1919

Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

No	144
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Hunter	Lilly Jane Price
	💍 1919/961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 days	18 days
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, St Albans
Folio	838
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

145

11 March 1919

Leonard Richard Mason Storer
Florence Miriam Moss

Leonard Richard Mason Storer
Florence Miriam Moss
💍 1919/962

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Dressmaker

32
28

St Albans
Christchurch

3 days
28 years

Methodist Church, Selwyn Street, Addington

839

11 March 1919

Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	145
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Richard Mason Storer	Florence Miriam Moss
	💍 1919/962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Dressmaker
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Selwyn Street, Addington
Folio	839
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. 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).