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 2333

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

151

12 March 1919

William Robert Heney
Elsie Wright

William Robert Henry
Elsie Wright
💍 1919/968

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

38
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 years
10 years

Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

844

12 March 1919

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	151
Date of Notice	12 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Heney	Elsie Wright
BDM Match (98%)	William Robert Henry	Elsie Wright
	💍 1919/968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	844
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

152

12 March 1919

William Pringle Walker
Mary Harriet Thomas

William Pringle Walker
Mary Harriet Thomas
💍 1919/969

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

36
19

Spreydon
Spreydon

5 days
6 days

Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

845

John Thomas, Father

12 March 1919

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	152
Date of Notice	12 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pringle Walker	Mary Harriet Thomas
	💍 1919/969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	36	19
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	5 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	845
Consent	John Thomas, Father
Date of Certificate	12 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

153

12 March 1919

Herbert James Stribling
Emily Gertrude Lewis

Herbert James Stribling
Emily Gertrude Lewis
💍 1919/5081

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter carrier

27
27

Christchurch
Cheviot

7 years
10 years

Church of England, Cheviot

1376

12 March 1919

Rev. J. Hay, Anglican

No	153
Date of Notice	12 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Stribling	Emily Gertrude Lewis
	💍 1919/5081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter carrier
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Cheviot
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Cheviot
Folio	1376
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hay, Anglican

154

13 March 1919

John Macmorran
Evaline Hepburn

John MacMorran
Evaline Hepburn
💍 1919/970

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Shop-keeper

34
40

Sydenham
Addington

3 years
40 years

Salvation Army Hall, Battersea street, Sydenham

846

13 March 1919

Commandant A. Armstrong, Salvation Army

No	154
Date of Notice	13 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Macmorran	Evaline Hepburn
BDM Match (96%)	John MacMorran	Evaline Hepburn
	💍 1919/970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Shop-keeper
Age	34	40
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Addington
Length of Residence	3 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Battersea street, Sydenham
Folio	846
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Commandant A. Armstrong, Salvation Army

155

13 March 1919

Sydney Stanton
Nora Ethel Cook

Sydney Stanton
Nora Ethel Cook
💍 1919/971

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Tailoress

23
25

Woolston
Linwood

19 years
6 years

Residence of Mrs Baillie, 165 Ensor's Rd, Linwood

847

13 March 1919

Rev. J. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	155
Date of Notice	13 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Stanton	Nora Ethel Cook
	💍 1919/971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Tailoress
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Linwood
Length of Residence	19 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Baillie, 165 Ensor's Rd, Linwood
Folio	847
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McDonald, Presbyterian

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).