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 2475

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

843

6 November 1919

Joseph Darling
Maud Christena Retallick

Joseph Darling
Maud Christina Retallick
💍 1919/7767

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Cook

36
30

Hornby
Hornby

4 months
2 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7341

6 November 1919

Registrar

No	843
Date of Notice	6 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Darling	Maud Christena Retallick
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Darling	Maud Christina Retallick
	💍 1919/7767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Cook
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Hornby	Hornby
Length of Residence	4 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7341
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

844

7 November 1919

Leo Marcus Gregory
Ruby Ethel Chamberlain

Leo Marcus Gregory
Ruby Ethel Chamberlain
💍 1919/7768

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Manager
Tailoress

31
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

7342

7 November 1919

Rev. J. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	844
Date of Notice	7 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Marcus Gregory	Ruby Ethel Chamberlain
	💍 1919/7768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Manager	Tailoress
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	7342
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Murphy, Roman Catholic

845

7 November 1919

Kaspar Gray Webley
Florence Isabell Joss

Kasper Gray Webley
Florence Isabel Joss
💍 1919/7769

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

20
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
1 year

Residence of Mr. E. J. Webley, 18 Somerfield Street, Spreydon

7343

Edward Webley (father); Margaret Joss (mother)

7 November 1919

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	845
Date of Notice	7 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kaspar Gray Webley	Florence Isabell Joss
BDM Match (95%)	Kasper Gray Webley	Florence Isabel Joss
	💍 1919/7769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. E. J. Webley, 18 Somerfield Street, Spreydon
Folio	7343
Consent	Edward Webley (father); Margaret Joss (mother)
Date of Certificate	7 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

846

8 November 1919

Conrad Haviland Worth
Irene Louise Lane

Conrad Haviland Worth
Irene Louise Lane
💍 1919/7770

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer

30
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
5 years

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

7344

8 November 1919

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	846
Date of Notice	8 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrad Haviland Worth	Irene Louise Lane
	💍 1919/7770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	7344
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

847

8 November 1919

Charles Johnstone
Laura Emily Marshall

Charles Johnstone
Laura Emily Marshall
💍 1919/7772

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

22
21

St. Albans
Christchurch

6 months
6 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

7345

8 November 1919

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	847
Date of Notice	8 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Johnstone	Laura Emily Marshall
	💍 1919/7772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7345
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, 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).