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 2499

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

963

9 December 1919

Percy Charles Killick
Jessie Taylor

Percy Charles Killick
Jessie Taylor
💍 1919/4535

Henry Ernest Goldfinch
Jessie Taylor
💍 1919/7101

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Costumier

31
32

Woolston
Christchurch

2 years
3 years

St John's Church, Christchurch

7453

9 December 1919

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	963
Date of Notice	9 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Charles Killick	Jessie Taylor
	💍 1919/4535
BDM Match (68%)	Henry Ernest Goldfinch	Jessie Taylor
	💍 1919/7101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Costumier
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7453
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

964

9 December 1919

Harry Diedrich Webb
Cecily Myra Bird

Harry Dierdrich Webb
Cecily Myra Bird
💍 1919/4536

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
9 years

Trinity Congregational Church, Worcester Street, Christchurch

7454

9 December 1919

Rev. G. E. Moore, Congregational

No	964
Date of Notice	9 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Diedrich Webb	Cecily Myra Bird
BDM Match (98%)	Harry Dierdrich Webb	Cecily Myra Bird
	💍 1919/4536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Congregational Church, Worcester Street, Christchurch
Folio	7454
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Moore, Congregational

965

9 December 1919

Alderwin Pearcy
Georgina Carr Shore

Alderwin Pearcy
Georgina Carr Shore
💍 1919/4537

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

30
22

Christchurch
Linwood

12 months
3 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7455

9 December 1919

Registrar

No	965
Date of Notice	9 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alderwin Pearcy	Georgina Carr Shore
	💍 1919/4537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	12 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7455
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

966

10 December 1919

John William Roy Jones
Annie Elizabeth Jordan

John William Roy Jones
Annie Elizabeth Jordan
💍 1919/4538

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood-turner

22
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs Jordan, 132 St Asaph Street, Christchurch

7456

Richard Leonard Jordan (Father)

10 December 1919

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	966
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Roy Jones	Annie Elizabeth Jordan
	💍 1919/4538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood-turner
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Jordan, 132 St Asaph Street, Christchurch
Folio	7456
Consent	Richard Leonard Jordan (Father)
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

967

10 December 1919

Herbert Harold Recaby
Flora Lizzie Osborne

Herbert Harold Reaby
Flora Lizzie Osborne
💍 1919/4539

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Machinist
Tailoress

25
25

Burwood
Woolston

Life
4 months

St John's Church, Christchurch

7457

10 December 1919

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	967
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Harold Recaby	Flora Lizzie Osborne
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Harold Reaby	Flora Lizzie Osborne
	💍 1919/4539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Machinist	Tailoress
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Burwood	Woolston
Length of Residence	Life	4 months
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7457
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 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).