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 2479

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

863

12 November 1919

Jeremiah Martin Shelley
Winifred Mary Harrington

Jeremiah Martin Shelley
Winifred Mary Harrington
💍 1919/7812

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Clerk

34
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

11 months
Life

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

7361

12 November 1919

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	863
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Martin Shelley	Winifred Mary Harrington
	💍 1919/7812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Clerk
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 months	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	7361
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

864

12 November 1919

William Mackay
Jessie Elizabeth McWhirter

William Mackay
Jessie Elizabeth McWhirter
💍 1919/7813

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

30
29

Sydenham
Beckenham

16 years
15 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

7362

12 November 1919

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	864
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mackay	Jessie Elizabeth McWhirter
	💍 1919/7813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Beckenham
Length of Residence	16 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7362
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

865

13 November 1919

Ernest Edward Coombes
Edith Ann Smith

Ernest Edward Coombes
Edith Ann Smith
💍 1919/7814

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

19
19

Richmond
Richmond

3 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7363

Arthur Coombes (Father), Jessie Crowley (Mother)

13 November 1919

Registrar

No	865
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Coombes	Edith Ann Smith
	💍 1919/7814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7363
Consent	Arthur Coombes (Father), Jessie Crowley (Mother)
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

866

13 November 1919

George Leslie Brant Taylor
Nellie Evelyn Turnbull

George Leslie Brant Taylor
Nellie Evelyn Turnbull
💍 1919/7815

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

22
17

Christchurch
Christchurch

22 years
14 years

Residence of Mr. T. S. Turnbull, 18 Cross Street, Linwood

7364

Thomas Turnbull (father)

13 November 1919

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	866
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Leslie Brant Taylor	Nellie Evelyn Turnbull
	💍 1919/7815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. S. Turnbull, 18 Cross Street, Linwood
Folio	7364
Consent	Thomas Turnbull (father)
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

867

13 November 1919

Bernard Thomas Turner
Ida Mary Dalziel

Bernard Thomas Turner
Ida Mary Dalziel
💍 1919/7816

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
School teacher

28
24

Woolston
Woolston

10 years
7 years

Residence of Mr. M. Dalziel, 14 Broad St, Woolston

7365

13 November 1919

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	867
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Thomas Turner	Ida Mary Dalziel
	💍 1919/7816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	School teacher
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. M. Dalziel, 14 Broad St, Woolston
Folio	7365
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

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).