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 2367

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

319

7 May 1919

John Philips
Norahine Owen Margaret Simmons

John Phillips
Norahine Owen Margaret Simmons
💍 1919/2279

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier

40
20

St. Albans
Addington

13 years
Life

Registrar's Office Christchurch

2110

There is no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent

24 May 1919

Registrar

No	319
Date of Notice	7 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Philips	Norahine Owen Margaret Simmons
BDM Match (96%)	John Phillips	Norahine Owen Margaret Simmons
	💍 1919/2279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier
Age	40	20
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Addington
Length of Residence	13 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	2110
Consent	There is no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

320

7 May 1919

Frederick John Gorton
Dorothy Violet Dalgety

Frederick John Gorton
Dorothy Violet Dalgety
💍 1919/2280

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
22

Marshland
Marshland

3 days
18 years

St Mark's Church Marshland

2111

7 May 1919

Rev. T. M. Curnow, Anglican

No	320
Date of Notice	7 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Gorton	Dorothy Violet Dalgety
	💍 1919/2280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Marshland
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Marshland
Folio	2111
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. M. Curnow, Anglican

321

8 May 1919

Leonard Gordon Blackwell
Dorothy McGaffin

Leonard Gordon Blackwell
Dorothy McGallan
💍 1919/2281

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

33
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
Life

St. Augustine's Church Cashmere

2112

8 May 1919

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	321
Date of Notice	8 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Gordon Blackwell	Dorothy McGaffin
BDM Match (91%)	Leonard Gordon Blackwell	Dorothy McGallan
	💍 1919/2281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Cashmere
Folio	2112
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

322

9 May 1919

Allan James Brown
Ivy Myrtle Tanner

Allan James Brown
Ivy Myrtle Tanner
💍 1919/2282

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
23

Tai Tapu
Tai Tapu

3 days
Life

Dwelling of Mrs F. G. Tanner Tai Tapu

2113

9 May 1919

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	322
Date of Notice	9 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan James Brown	Ivy Myrtle Tanner
	💍 1919/2282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Tai Tapu	Tai Tapu
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs F. G. Tanner Tai Tapu
Folio	2113
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

323

12 May 1919

Walter Joseph Bull
Gertrude Theodora Day

Walter Joseph Bull
Gertrude Theodora Day
💍 1919/2283

Widower 5.4.1919
Spinster

Typewriter Mechanic
Saleswoman

36
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 months
2 months

Holy Trinity Church Avonside

2114

12 May 1919

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	323
Date of Notice	12 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Joseph Bull	Gertrude Theodora Day
	💍 1919/2283
Condition	Widower 5.4.1919	Spinster
Profession	Typewriter Mechanic	Saleswoman
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside
Folio	2114
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 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).