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 2425

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

601

20 August 1919

Ivan Thomas Bennington
Florence May Vicary

Ivan Thomas Bennington
Florence May Vicary
💍 1919/7058

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Dressmaker

23
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church Berwick Street St Albans

6577

20 August 1919

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	601
Date of Notice	20 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Thomas Bennington	Florence May Vicary
	💍 1919/7058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Dressmaker
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Berwick Street St Albans
Folio	6577
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

602

20 August 1919

Walter Robert Bate
Annie Wormald

Walter Robert Bate
Annie Wormald
💍 1919/4219

Widower April 20, 1918
Widow January 1, 1915

Painter
Fruiterer

41
40

Linwood
Linwood

12 years
30 years

Residence of Mrs Wormald corner of Phillip and St Asaph Streets Linwood

4352

20 August 1919

Mr H. Spencer, Methodist

No	602
Date of Notice	20 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Robert Bate	Annie Wormald
	💍 1919/4219
Condition	Widower April 20, 1918	Widow January 1, 1915
Profession	Painter	Fruiterer
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	12 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Wormald corner of Phillip and St Asaph Streets Linwood
Folio	4352
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr H. Spencer, Methodist

603

20 August 1919

William George Moore
Hannah Peters

William George Moore
Hannah Peters
💍 1919/4220

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

37
37

Bromley
Christchurch

20 years
14 years

Residence of Mrs Peters 9 Lower High Street Christchurch

4353

20 August 1919

Rev. T. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	603
Date of Notice	20 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Moore	Hannah Peters
	💍 1919/4220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Bromley	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Peters 9 Lower High Street Christchurch
Folio	4353
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDonald, Presbyterian

604

21 August 1919

Thomas Hartnall Stone
Vera Duncan

Thomas Hartnell Stone
Vera Duncan
💍 1919/4221

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Milliner

27
30

St Albans
Addington

10 days
3 years

St John's Church Christchurch

4354

21 August 1919

Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

No	604
Date of Notice	21 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hartnall Stone	Vera Duncan
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Hartnell Stone	Vera Duncan
	💍 1919/4221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Milliner
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Addington
Length of Residence	10 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	4354
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

605

21 August 1919

Herbert Brill Kissell
Elsie May Wilson

Herbert Brill Kissell
Elsie May Wilson
💍 1919/4222

Herbert McDowell
Lucy May Wilson
💍 1919/8590

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Employee

26
20

Christchurch
Linwood

3 years
Life

St Mary's Church Addington

4355

Arthur Wilson Father

21 August 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	605
Date of Notice	21 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Brill Kissell	Elsie May Wilson
	💍 1919/4222
BDM Match (61%)	Herbert McDowell	Lucy May Wilson
	💍 1919/8590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Employee
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	4355
Consent	Arthur Wilson Father
Date of Certificate	21 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

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).