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 2403

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

491

15 July 1919

William Thomas Davies
Eva Maria Calcutt

William Thomas Davies
Eva Maria Calcutt
💍 1919/4988

Bachelor
Widow 20.11.1899

Mechanic

39
44

Christchurch
New Brighton

3 days
2 years

Anglican Church New Brighton

4251

15 July 1919

Rev H. H. Mathias, Anglican

No	491
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Davies	Eva Maria Calcutt
	💍 1919/4988
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 20.11.1899
Profession	Mechanic
Age	39	44
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	New Brighton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church New Brighton
Folio	4251
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. H. Mathias, Anglican

492

15 July 1919

Albert Edward Haynes
Elizabeth Mary Stephens

Albert Edward Haynes
Elizabeth Mary Stephens
💍 1919/4995

Bachelor
Spinster

Home Missionary

31
35

Linwood
Spreydon

6 weeks
5 years

Methodist Church Lincoln Rd Spreydon

4252

15 July 1919

Rev A. J. Seamer, Methodist

No	492
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Haynes	Elizabeth Mary Stephens
	💍 1919/4995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Home Missionary
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Spreydon
Length of Residence	6 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Lincoln Rd Spreydon
Folio	4252
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Seamer, Methodist

493

15 July 1919

Edward William Collins
Emma Singleton

Edward William Collins
Emma Singleton
💍 1919/4996

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookbinder

34
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
Life

St Andrew's Church Christchurch

4253

15 July 1919

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	493
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Collins	Emma Singleton
	💍 1919/4996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookbinder
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	4253
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

494

15 July 1919

Harold Edward Fowlds
Gertrude Phyllis Bowring Turner

Harold Edward Fowlds
Gertrude Phyllis Bowring Turner
💍 1919/4997

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
19

Linwood
Linwood

2 weeks
2 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes St Christchurch

4254

Frank Bowring Turner Father

15 July 1919

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	494
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edward Fowlds	Gertrude Phyllis Bowring Turner
	💍 1919/4997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes St Christchurch
Folio	4254
Consent	Frank Bowring Turner Father
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

495

15 July 1919

Charles Kibblewhite
Linda Gladys Buist

Charles Kibblewhite
Linda Gladys Buist
💍 1919/4999

Divorced Decree Absolute dated December 15, 1914
Spinster

Farmer

43
28

New Brighton
New Brighton

3 months
5 days

Wesleyan Church New Brighton

4256

15 July 1919

Rev. W. Walker, Methodist

No	495
Date of Notice	15 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Kibblewhite	Linda Gladys Buist
	💍 1919/4999
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute dated December 15, 1914	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	28
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	3 months	5 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church New Brighton
Folio	4256
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Walker, Methodist

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).