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 2347

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

219

7 April 1919

Wilfred Russell
Lillian Rotchfort

Wilfred Russell
Lillian Rotchfort
💍 1919/2234

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

34
19

Sydenham
Sydenham

1 month
19 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

2015

Julia Crosby formerly Rotchfort, Mother

7 April 1919

Registrar

No	219
Date of Notice	7 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Russell	Lillian Rotchfort
	💍 1919/2234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 month	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	2015
Consent	Julia Crosby formerly Rotchfort, Mother
Date of Certificate	7 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

220

7 April 1919

Richard Henry Norton
Sarah Annie Neilands

Richard Henry Norton
Sarah Annie Neilands
💍 1919/2235

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

26
20

St Albans
St Albans

3 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office Christchurch

2016

John Neilands, Father

7 April 1919

Registrar

No	220
Date of Notice	7 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Norton	Sarah Annie Neilands
	💍 1919/2235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	2016
Consent	John Neilands, Father
Date of Certificate	7 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

221

7 April 1919

Hubert Edward Robinson
Vera May Newman

Hubert Edward Robinson
Vera May Newman
💍 1919/2236

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Music Teacher

23
23

Wellington
Christchurch

1 year
15 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

2017

7 April 1919

Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	221
Date of Notice	7 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Edward Robinson	Vera May Newman
	💍 1919/2236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Music Teacher
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	2017
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

222

8 April 1919

Garbutt Windress
Gladys Annie Hill

Garbutt Windress
Gladys Annie Hill
💍 1919/2237

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Shop Assistant

29
24

Woolston
Woolston

3 days
6 years

Residence Mr C. Hill, 74 Ashbourne Street, Woolston

2018

8 April 1919

Rev. J. H. G. Chapple, Unitarian

No	222
Date of Notice	8 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Garbutt Windress	Gladys Annie Hill
	💍 1919/2237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Shop Assistant
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence Mr C. Hill, 74 Ashbourne Street, Woolston
Folio	2018
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. G. Chapple, Unitarian

223

8 April 1919

Karl Edgar Burnie
Frances Karney Bower

Karl Edgar Currie
Frances Harvey Bower
💍 1919/2238

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Dressmaker

22
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 months
5 years

St Andrews Church Christchurch

2019

8 April 1919

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	223
Date of Notice	8 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Karl Edgar Burnie	Frances Karney Bower
BDM Match (89%)	Karl Edgar Currie	Frances Harvey Bower
	💍 1919/2238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Christchurch
Folio	2019
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, 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).