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 2411

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

531

31 July 1919

Leslie Thomas Harvey
Rosina Maud Quartermain

Leslie Thomas Harvey
Rosina Maud Quartermain
💍 1919/5035

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Clerk

28
25

Linwood
Sydenham

6 years
3 months

St Mary's Church Merivale

4291

31 July 1919

Rev. P. B. Haggitt Anglican

No	531
Date of Notice	31 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Thomas Harvey	Rosina Maud Quartermain
	💍 1919/5035
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Sydenham
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	4291
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt Anglican

532

31 July 1919

Frank Foster Alleyne
Irene Mabel Dickie

Frank Foster Alleyne
Irene Mabel Dickie
💍 1919/5036

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
19

St Albans
Linwood

14 years
6 weeks

Registrar's Office Christchurch

4292

Mitchell John Dickie Father

31 July 1919

Registrar

No	532
Date of Notice	31 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Foster Alleyne	Irene Mabel Dickie
	💍 1919/5036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Linwood
Length of Residence	14 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	4292
Consent	Mitchell John Dickie Father
Date of Certificate	31 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

533

31 July 1919

Walter James Bryant
Esther King

Walter James Bryant
Esther King
💍 1919/5037

Divorced Decree Absolute dated February 23 1914
Widow June 1 1919

Baker

40
50

Linwood
Linwood

40 years
15 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

4293

31 July 1919

Registrar

No	533
Date of Notice	31 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Bryant	Esther King
	💍 1919/5037
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute dated February 23 1914	Widow June 1 1919
Profession	Baker
Age	40	50
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	40 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	4293
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

534

31 July 1919

Alexander Kennedy
Gertrude Lyons

Alexander Kennedy
Gertrude Lyons
💍 1919/5039

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman
Bookbinder

33
29

Riccarton
Christchurch

17 years
Life

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

4294

31 July 1919

Rev. J. Kennedy R.C.

No	534
Date of Notice	31 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kennedy	Gertrude Lyons
	💍 1919/5039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman	Bookbinder
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	4294
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kennedy R.C.

535

31 July 1919

Harold Alfred Long
Marie Elms Thompson

Harold Alfred Long
Marie Elsie Thompson
💍 1919/5040

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

24
24

Christchurch
St Albans

1 year
7 years

Residence of Mrs H. E. Thompson 65 Bishops Rd Papanui

4295

31 July 1919

Rev. T. A. Joughin Methodist

No	535
Date of Notice	31 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Alfred Long	Marie Elms Thompson
BDM Match (93%)	Harold Alfred Long	Marie Elsie Thompson
	💍 1919/5040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St Albans
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs H. E. Thompson 65 Bishops Rd Papanui
Folio	4295
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Joughin Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).