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 2337

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

171

24 March 1919

James William Baylis
Henrietta Oppenheim

James William Bayliss
Henrietta Oppenheim
💍 1919/1217

Bachelor
Spinster

Home Missionary (Soldier)

30
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
1 year

Methodist Church Edgeware Road St Albans

1720

24 March 1919

Rev W. Grigg, Methodist

No	171
Date of Notice	24 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Baylis	Henrietta Oppenheim
BDM Match (98%)	James William Bayliss	Henrietta Oppenheim
	💍 1919/1217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Home Missionary (Soldier)
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Edgeware Road St Albans
Folio	1720
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Grigg, Methodist

172

24 March 1919

Arthur Tindall
Eileen Cummins

Arthur Tindall
Eileen Cummins
💍 1919/4128

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

24
23

Linwood
Christchurch

24 years
23

St Mary's Church Manchester St Christchurch

861

24 March 1919

Rev H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

No	172
Date of Notice	24 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Tindall	Eileen Cummins
	💍 1919/4128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	23
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Manchester St Christchurch
Folio	861
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

173

24 March 1919

William James Bruton
Sophia Tatham

William James Bruton
Sophia Tatham
💍 1919/4129

Bachelor
Spinster

Hawker
Cook

39
35

Linwood
Linwood

11 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

862

24 March 1919

Registrar

No	173
Date of Notice	24 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Bruton	Sophia Tatham
	💍 1919/4129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hawker	Cook
Age	39	35
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	11 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	862
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

174

24 March 1919

Thomas William Arthur Stringer
Amy Bishop Stringer

Thomas William Arthur Stringer
Amy Bishop Stringer
💍 1919/1925

Widower 9 April 1917
Divorced decree absolute dated 2 Oct. 1918

Accountant

40
40

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
12 years

Residence of Mr J. W. A. Stringer 572 Gloucester St. Linwood

1683

24 March 1919

Rev D D Rodger, Presbyterian

No	174
Date of Notice	24 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Arthur Stringer	Amy Bishop Stringer
	💍 1919/1925
Condition	Widower 9 April 1917	Divorced decree absolute dated 2 Oct. 1918
Profession	Accountant
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. W. A. Stringer 572 Gloucester St. Linwood
Folio	1683
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D D Rodger, Presbyterian

175

25 March 1919

John Thomas Denton
Margaret Annie Gibb

John Thomas Denton
Margaret Ann Gibb
💍 1919/4130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
3 days

Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch

863

25 March 1919

Rev D D Rodger, Presbyterian

No	175
Date of Notice	25 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Denton	Margaret Annie Gibb
BDM Match (95%)	John Thomas Denton	Margaret Ann Gibb
	💍 1919/4130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	863
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D D Rodger, 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).