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 2359

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

279

24 April 1919

Samuel Venner Besley
Eileen Agnes Beattie, commonly known as Parsons

Samuel Venner Besley
Eileen Agnes Carson
💍 1919/1267

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Tailoress

22
22

Sydenham
St Albans

22 years
20 years

St David's Church, Sydenham

2072

24 April 1919

Rev. J. Dickson, Presbyterian

No	279
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Venner Besley	Eileen Agnes Beattie, commonly known as Parsons
BDM Match (69%)	Samuel Venner Besley	Eileen Agnes Carson
	💍 1919/1267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Tailoress
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	St Albans
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St David's Church, Sydenham
Folio	2072
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dickson, Presbyterian

280

24 April 1919

George Fritz Parsonson
Helen Edith McMillan

George Fritz Parsonsons
Helen Edith McMillan
💍 1919/1268

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
26

Cashmere Hills
Cashmere Hills

7 years
8 years

Dwelling of Mrs R. McMillan, 111 Dyer's Pass Road, Cashmere Hills

2073

24 April 1919

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	280
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Fritz Parsonson	Helen Edith McMillan
BDM Match (98%)	George Fritz Parsonsons	Helen Edith McMillan
	💍 1919/1268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Cashmere Hills	Cashmere Hills
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs R. McMillan, 111 Dyer's Pass Road, Cashmere Hills
Folio	2073
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

281

24 April 1919

Albert Frederick Lange
Harriet Rountree

Albert Frederick Lange
Harrietta Rountree
💍 1919/1269

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Nurse

40
37

Papanui
Marshland

7 days
10 years

St Mark's Church, Marshland

2074

24 April 1919

Rev. H. A. Wilkinson, Anglican

No	281
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Frederick Lange	Harriet Rountree
BDM Match (94%)	Albert Frederick Lange	Harrietta Rountree
	💍 1919/1269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Nurse
Age	40	37
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Marshland
Length of Residence	7 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Marshland
Folio	2074
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Wilkinson, Anglican

282

24 April 1919

Harry Leslie Thomas
Gertrude Graham Wilson

Harry Leslie Thomas
Gertrude Graham Wilson
💍 1919/1270

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter

26
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
18 years

Residence of Mrs Thomas, 447 Madras Street, Christchurch

2075

Joseph Wilson, Father

24 April 1919

Rev. C. C. Ward, Methodist

No	282
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Leslie Thomas	Gertrude Graham Wilson
	💍 1919/1270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Thomas, 447 Madras Street, Christchurch
Folio	2075
Consent	Joseph Wilson, Father
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Ward, Methodist

283

24 April 1919

William Joseph Bellingham
Dorothy Kathleen Montague

William Joseph Bellingham
Dorothie Kathleen Montague
💍 1919/2485

Divorced Decree Absolute dated March 27 1919
Spinster

Musician

35
23

Christchurch
Wellington

2 years
3 days

St John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington

1816

24 April 1919

Rev. J. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	283
Date of Notice	24 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Bellingham	Dorothy Kathleen Montague
BDM Match (96%)	William Joseph Bellingham	Dorothie Kathleen Montague
	💍 1919/2485
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute dated March 27 1919	Spinster
Profession	Musician
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	1816
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb, 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).