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 2343

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

199

1 April 1919

Samuel Morley Parry
Ella Dorothy Parry

Samuel Morley Parry
Ella Dorothy Parry
💍 1919/1001

Previously married on 8 July 1916 at Wellington

Soldier
Clerk

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
Life

Methodist Church, Durham St, Christchurch

1689

1 April 1919

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	199
Date of Notice	1 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Morley Parry	Ella Dorothy Parry
	💍 1919/1001
Condition	Previously married on 8 July 1916 at Wellington
Profession	Soldier	Clerk
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St, Christchurch
Folio	1689
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

200

1 April 1919

John Morrison
Mona Mary Forbes

John Morrison
Mona Mary Forbes
💍 1919/1908

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

29
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
22 years

Residence of Mr W. Forbes, 218 Colombo Street, Christchurch

1690

1 April 1919

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	200
Date of Notice	1 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morrison	Mona Mary Forbes
	💍 1919/1908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Forbes, 218 Colombo Street, Christchurch
Folio	1690
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

201

1 April 1919

Albert John Tomson
Isabella McLachlan

Albert John Tomson
Isabella McLachlan
💍 1919/1909

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Tailoress

34
26

Christchurch
Linwood

8 months
17 years

St Peters Church, Woolston

1691

1 April 1919

Rev. J. M. Donald, Presbyterian

No	201
Date of Notice	1 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Tomson	Isabella McLachlan
	💍 1919/1909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Tailoress
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	8 months	17 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Woolston
Folio	1691
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Donald, Presbyterian

202

2 April 1919

Herbert Thomas Hoddinott
Ivy Gladys Knight

Herbert Thomas Hoddinott
Ivy Gladys Knight
💍 1919/1910

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter New Zealand Railways

29
27

Christchurch
St Albans

3 days
Life

Baptist Church, Sydenham

1692

2 April 1919

Rev. J. K. Archer, Baptist

No	202
Date of Notice	2 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Thomas Hoddinott	Ivy Gladys Knight
	💍 1919/1910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter New Zealand Railways
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St Albans
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Sydenham
Folio	1692
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Archer, Baptist

203

2 April 1919

Francis Carswell
Esther Tarrant

Francis Carswell
Esther Tarrant
💍 1919/1911

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Stenographer

30
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
29 years

Presbyterian Church, Burwood

1693

2 April 1919

Mr J. Tennent, Presbyterian

No	203
Date of Notice	2 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Carswell	Esther Tarrant
	💍 1919/1911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Stenographer
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Burwood
Folio	1693
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr J. Tennent, 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).