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 2485

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

893

20 November 1919

Robert Alexander Lanyon, commonly known as Scott
Emma Clare Horsley

Robert Alexander Scott
Emma Clare Horsley
💍 1919/7790

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Riccarton
Riccarton

20 years
3 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

7389

6 December 1919

Registrar

No	893
Date of Notice	20 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Lanyon, commonly known as Scott	Emma Clare Horsley
BDM Match (73%)	Robert Alexander Scott	Emma Clare Horsley
	💍 1919/7790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	20 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	7389
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

894

21 November 1919

William John Turnpenny
Alma Winifred Woods

William John Turnpenny
Alma Winifred Woods
💍 1919/7791

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Tailoress

24
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
Life

St Mary's Church Addington

7390

21 November 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	894
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Turnpenny	Alma Winifred Woods
	💍 1919/7791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Tailoress
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	7390
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

895

21 November 1919

Walter John Murphy
Grace Theresa Martha Curry

Walter John Murphy
Grace Theresa Martha Curry
💍 1919/7792

Widower, 10, 10 1917
Spinster

Storeman

48
32

St. Albans
St. Albans

12 years
5 years

St Mary's Church Manchester Street Christchurch

7391

21 November 1919

Rev. C. H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

No	895
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Murphy	Grace Theresa Martha Curry
	💍 1919/7792
Condition	Widower, 10, 10 1917	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	48	32
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Manchester Street Christchurch
Folio	7391
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

896

21 November 1919

Vernon James Stay
Ethel May Hooker

Vernon James Hay
Ethel May Hooker
💍 1919/7793

Bachelor
Widow, November 10th 1918

Plasterer
Machinist

27
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
8 years

St Mary's Church Addington

7392

21 November 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	896
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon James Stay	Ethel May Hooker
BDM Match (94%)	Vernon James Hay	Ethel May Hooker
	💍 1919/7793
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, November 10th 1918
Profession	Plasterer	Machinist
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	7392
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

897

22 November 1919

William George Blundell
Elizabeth Blinkhorn

William George Blundell
Elizabeth Blinkhorn
💍 1919/7794

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

27
25

Addington
Sydenham

5 months
3 1/2 years

St Mary's Church Addington

7393

22 November 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	897
Date of Notice	22 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Blundell	Elizabeth Blinkhorn
	💍 1919/7794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Addington	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 months	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	7393
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, 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).