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 2515

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

1043

24 December 1919

Charles Frederick Champion
Isabella Gertrude Eve Wilson

Charles Frederick Champion
Isabella Gertrude Eve Wilson
💍 1919/7920

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Saleswoman

31
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years
16 years

Residence of Mr M. F. Barnett, 854 Colombo Street, Christchurch

7520

24 December 1919

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1043
Date of Notice	24 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Champion	Isabella Gertrude Eve Wilson
	💍 1919/7920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Saleswoman
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr M. F. Barnett, 854 Colombo Street, Christchurch
Folio	7520
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

1044

24 December 1919

Leonard Mark Sandston
Margaret Elizabeth La Ross

Leonard Mark Sandston
Margaret Elizabeth La Ross
💍 1919/7921

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer

35
23

Auckland
Sumner

2 days
9 days

Presbyterian Church, Sumner

7521

24 December 1919

Rev. W. McAra, Presbyterian

No	1044
Date of Notice	24 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Mark Sandston	Margaret Elizabeth La Ross
	💍 1919/7921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Sumner
Length of Residence	2 days	9 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Sumner
Folio	7521
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McAra, Presbyterian

1045

25 December 1919

Bertie Stanley Lawrence
Henrietta Marsden

Bertie Stanley Lawrence
Henrietta Marsden
💍 1919/7922

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
11 years

Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

7522

25 December 1919

Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

No	1045
Date of Notice	25 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Stanley Lawrence	Henrietta Marsden
	💍 1919/7922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	7522
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

1046

27 December 1919

Henry Matthew Gilkes
Blanche Emilie Webster

Henry Matthew Gilkes
Blanche Emilie Webster
💍 1920/2615

Widower, January 13th 1905
Spinster

Draper

54
43

St Albans
St Albans

10 years
30 years

St Michael's Church, Christchurch

27 December 1919

Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	1046
Date of Notice	27 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Matthew Gilkes	Blanche Emilie Webster
	💍 1920/2615
Condition	Widower, January 13th 1905	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	54	43
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	10 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	5
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

1047

29 December 1919

Arthur Gordon Hewitt
Winnifred Harrison Rapley

Arthur Gordon Hewitt
Winnifred Harrison Rapley
💍 1919/7923

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Clerk

28
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
3 months

Methodist Church, Edgeware Road, St Albans

7523

29 December 1919

Rev. W. Walker, Methodist

No	1047
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Gordon Hewitt	Winnifred Harrison Rapley
	💍 1919/7923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Clerk
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Edgeware Road, St Albans
Folio	7523
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Walker, 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).