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 2467

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

803

25 October 1919

Ralph Wootton
Marie Josephine McKay

Ralph Wootton
Marie Josephine McKay
💍 1919/7728

Bachelor
Widow August 27 1918

Clerk

29
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 weeks
6 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

7303

25 October 1919

Registrar

No	803
Date of Notice	25 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Wootton	Marie Josephine McKay
	💍 1919/7728
Condition	Bachelor	Widow August 27 1918
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 weeks	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	7303
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

804

27 October 1919

Richard Garraway
Gladys May Fields

Richard Garraway
Gladys May Fields
💍 1919/7729

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Shop Assistant

32
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
5 days

Residence of Rev N. McCallum, 38 Jerrold Street, Spreydon

7304

27 October 1919

Rev N. McCallum, Presbyterian

No	804
Date of Notice	27 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Garraway	Gladys May Fields
	💍 1919/7729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Shop Assistant
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev N. McCallum, 38 Jerrold Street, Spreydon
Folio	7304
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev N. McCallum, Presbyterian

804

28 October 1919

William Robertson Jack
Evelyn Azealia Woodard

William Robertson Jack
Evelyn Azelia Woodard
💍 1919/7732

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

27
26

St Albans
St Albans

1 1/2 years
10 years

St Matthews Church, St Albans

7307

28 October 1919

Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

No	804
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robertson Jack	Evelyn Azealia Woodard
BDM Match (98%)	William Robertson Jack	Evelyn Azelia Woodard
	💍 1919/7732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, St Albans
Folio	7307
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

805

28 October 1919

Claude Henry Young
Agnes Amelia Andersen

Claude Henry Young
Agnes Amelia Andersen
💍 1919/7730

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

32
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
33 years

Anglican Church, New Brighton

7305

28 October 1919

Rev. H. H. Mathias, Anglican

No	805
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Henry Young	Agnes Amelia Andersen
	💍 1919/7730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, New Brighton
Folio	7305
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Mathias, Anglican

806

28 October 1919

Tom Hulme
Eleanor Mary Pidgeon

Tom Hulme
Eleanor Mary Pidgeon
💍 1919/7731

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

30
27

Linwood
Linwood

5 years
4 days

Congregational Church, Linwood

7306

28 October 1919

Rev. H. A. Job, Congregational

No	806
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Hulme	Eleanor Mary Pidgeon
	💍 1919/7731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	5 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Linwood
Folio	7306
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Job, Congregational

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).