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 2349

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

229

11 April 1919

Fredrick Le Messurier
Rose Weir

Fredrick Le Messurier
Rose Weir
💍 1919/2245

Bachelor
Widow January 12 1912

Gardener

44
47

Spreydon
Spreydon

40 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs Weir, 57 Rose Street, Spreydon

2025

11 April 1919

Rev W. Tanner, Congregationalist

No	229
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Le Messurier	Rose Weir
	💍 1919/2245
Condition	Bachelor	Widow January 12 1912
Profession	Gardener
Age	44	47
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	40 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Weir, 57 Rose Street, Spreydon
Folio	2025
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Tanner, Congregationalist

230

11 April 1919

Edward Reese
Mary Beatrice Sparkes

Edward Reese
Mary Beatrice Sparkes
💍 1919/1229

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

34
30

Riccarton
Riccarton

5 years
5 years

Dwelling of Mrs Sparkes, Ham Road, Riccarton

2026

11 April 1919

Rev W. O. White, Presbyterian

No	230
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Reese	Mary Beatrice Sparkes
	💍 1919/1229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Sparkes, Ham Road, Riccarton
Folio	2026
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. O. White, Presbyterian

231

11 April 1919

Walter Thomas Conibear
Edith Mary Nelson

Walter Thomas Conibear
Edith Mary Nelson
💍 1919/1240

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter and Joiner

31
30

Richmond
St Albans

5 years
30 years

Trinity Congregational Church, Worcester Street, Christchurch

2027

11 April 1919

Rev G. E. Moore, Congregationalist

No	231
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Conibear	Edith Mary Nelson
	💍 1919/1240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter and Joiner
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Richmond	St Albans
Length of Residence	5 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church, Worcester Street, Christchurch
Folio	2027
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. E. Moore, Congregationalist

232

11 April 1919

Stanley Albert Gerard
Eleanor Margarete Shaw

Stanley Albert Jerard
Eleanor Margareta Shaw
💍 1919/1247

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Car Painter
Typiste

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
Life

St Pauls Church, Christchurch

2028

11 April 1919

Mr A. H. Coates, Presbyterian

No	232
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Albert Gerard	Eleanor Margarete Shaw
BDM Match (95%)	Stanley Albert Jerard	Eleanor Margareta Shaw
	💍 1919/1247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Car Painter	Typiste
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Christchurch
Folio	2028
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr A. H. Coates, Presbyterian

233

11 April 1919

Sydney Huia Clark
Elsie May Hulbert

Sydney Huia Clark
Elsie May Hulbert
💍 1919/1248

Bachelor
Spinster

Lithographer

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
Life

St Johns Church, Christchurch

2029

11 April 1919

Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	233
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Huia Clark	Elsie May Hulbert
	💍 1919/1248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lithographer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Christchurch
Folio	2029
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks, Anglican

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).