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 2451

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

723

1 October 1919

James McIntyre Stewart
Florence Helen Palmer

James McIntyre Stewart
Florence Helen Palmer
💍 1919/7637

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Operator
Milliner

19
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
18 years

Methodist Parsonage New Brighton

7226

James Walker Stewart (Father); Charles Palmer (Mother)

1 October 1919

Rev. W. Walker, Methodist

No	723
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McIntyre Stewart	Florence Helen Palmer
	💍 1919/7637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Operator	Milliner
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage New Brighton
Folio	7226
Consent	James Walker Stewart (Father); Charles Palmer (Mother)
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Walker, Methodist

724

1 October 1919

Leslie Norman Sibley
Gladys Evelyn Musson

Leslie Norman Sibley
Gladys Evelyn Musson
💍 1919/7648

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

21
20

Woolston
New Brighton

21 years
1 year

St John's Church Woolston

7227

William John Musson, Father

1 October 1919

Rev. F. Dunnage, Anglican

No	724
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Norman Sibley	Gladys Evelyn Musson
	💍 1919/7648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Woolston	New Brighton
Length of Residence	21 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St John's Church Woolston
Folio	7227
Consent	William John Musson, Father
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Dunnage, Anglican

725

1 October 1919

Herbert Benjamin Stone
Mary Elizabeth Smith

Herbert Benjamin Stone
Mary Elizabeth Smith
💍 1919/7655

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

22
23

St Albans
St Albans

3 days
20 years

St Matthew's Church St Albans

7228

1 October 1919

Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

No	725
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Benjamin Stone	Mary Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1919/7655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church St Albans
Folio	7228
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

726

1 October 1919

Albert Vernon Fraer
Medina Ethel Bertha Sandilands

Albert Vernon Fraer
Medina Ethel Bertha Sandilands
💍 1919/7656

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

30
28

Christchurch
Dunedin

3 days
9 months

Anglican Church Phillipstown

7229

1 October 1919

Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	726
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Vernon Fraer	Medina Ethel Bertha Sandilands
	💍 1919/7656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	9 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Phillipstown
Folio	7229
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

727

1 October 1919

Robert Kennedy
Mary Ella Walter

Robert Kennedy
May Ella Walter
💍 1919/7657

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Tailoress

26
27

Riccarton
Merivale

6 years
4 years

St Michaels Church Christchurch

7230

1 October 1919

Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	727
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Kennedy	Mary Ella Walter
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Kennedy	May Ella Walter
	💍 1919/7657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Tailoress
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Merivale
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Michaels Church Christchurch
Folio	7230
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry, 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).