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 2365

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

309

3 May 1919

Arthur Oliver Wood
Dora Cogzell Brown

Arthur Oliver Wood
Dora Cogzell Brown
💍 1919/2278

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

36
28

Sumner
St. Martins

3 months
1 year

Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch

2101

3 May 1919

Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

No	309
Date of Notice	3 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Oliver Wood	Dora Cogzell Brown
	💍 1919/2278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Sumner	St. Martins
Length of Residence	3 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch
Folio	2101
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

310

5 May 1919

Reginald Henry Donovan
Lavinia Hucks

Reginald Henry Donovan
Lavina Hucks
💍 1919/2289

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

29
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years
16 years

Methodist Church, Rugby St., St. Albans

2102

5 May 1919

Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist

No	310
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Henry Donovan	Lavinia Hucks
BDM Match (96%)	Reginald Henry Donovan	Lavina Hucks
	💍 1919/2289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Rugby St., St. Albans
Folio	2102
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Lawry, Methodist

311

5 May 1919

James Bannister
Dulcie Muriel Nicholson

James Bannister
Dulcie Muriel Nicholson
💍 1919/2296

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

23
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
1 month

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

2103

5 May 1919

Registrar

No	311
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bannister	Dulcie Muriel Nicholson
	💍 1919/2296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	2103
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

312

5 May 1919

Charles Thompson
Eva Smith

Charles Thompson
Eva Smith
💍 1919/2297

Widower
Spinster

Railway Guard
Dressmaker

43
39

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
5 years

Residence of Mr. Kellner, 427 Worcester St., Linwood

2104

5 May 1919

Rev. G. Lindsay, Presbyterian

No	312
Date of Notice	5 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thompson	Eva Smith
	💍 1919/2297
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard	Dressmaker
Age	43	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Kellner, 427 Worcester St., Linwood
Folio	2104
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay, Presbyterian

313

6 May 1919

Henry Alfred Wade
Christina Taylor Broad

Henry Alfred Wade
Christina Taylor Broad
💍 1919/2298

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Saleswoman

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

2105

6 May 1919

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	313
Date of Notice	6 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Wade	Christina Taylor Broad
	💍 1919/2298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Saleswoman
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	2105
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald, 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).