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 2341

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

191

28 March 1919

Charles Payne
Lorna Alexandra Watson

Charles Payne
Lorna Alexadra Watson
💍 1919/997

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster

19
16

Ladbrooks
Ladbrooks

16 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

876

William Robert Payne (Father) Henry Watson (Father)

28 March 1919

Registrar

No	191
Date of Notice	28 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Payne	Lorna Alexandra Watson
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Payne	Lorna Alexadra Watson
	💍 1919/997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster
Age	19	16
Dwelling Place	Ladbrooks	Ladbrooks
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	876
Consent	William Robert Payne (Father) Henry Watson (Father)
Date of Certificate	28 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

192

28 March 1919

Frank Leslie Alexander
Hilda Vivian Greenslade

Frank Leslie Alexander
Hilda Vivian Greenslade
💍 1919/998

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Saleswoman

24
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

24 years
23 years

St John's Church Christchurch

877

28 March 1919

Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	192
Date of Notice	28 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Leslie Alexander	Hilda Vivian Greenslade
	💍 1919/998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Saleswoman
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	877
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

193

29 March 1919

Leonard Horace Brand
Ivy O'Donnell

Leonard Horace Brand
Ivy O'Donnell
💍 1919/1904

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

28
27

St Albans
Sydenham

8 years
5 years

Residence of Mrs O'Donnell 11 Argyle Street Sydenham

1686

29 March 1919

Rev W. Beckett Methodist

No	193
Date of Notice	29 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Horace Brand	Ivy O'Donnell
	💍 1919/1904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Sydenham
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs O'Donnell 11 Argyle Street Sydenham
Folio	1686
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Beckett Methodist

194

29 March 1919

Henry James Stevenson
Olive Lavinia Presland

Henry James Stevenson
Olive Livinia Presland
💍 1919/999

Bachelor
Spinster

Freezing Work employee

23
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
3 months

Trinity Congregational Church Worcester St Christchurch

878

29 March 1919

Rev G. E. Moore Congregationalist

No	194
Date of Notice	29 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Stevenson	Olive Lavinia Presland
BDM Match (98%)	Henry James Stevenson	Olive Livinia Presland
	💍 1919/999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Freezing Work employee
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church Worcester St Christchurch
Folio	878
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. E. Moore Congregationalist

195

29 March 1919

Thomas Mills
Margaret Murray Sinclair-Ross

Thomas Mills
Margaret Murray Sinclair-Ross
💍 1919/1000

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

40
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days
5 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

879

29 March 1919

Registrar

No	195
Date of Notice	29 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mills	Margaret Murray Sinclair-Ross
	💍 1919/1000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	879
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1919
Officiating Minister	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).