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 2519

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar H. Magrath (Deputy)

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

1063

31 December 1919

John Charlton Thompson
Hilda Emily Miller

John Charlton Thompson
Hilda Emily Miller
💍 1920/2859

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
16

Clarkville
Christchurch

20 years
16 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

147

James William Miller (Father)

31 December 1919

Registrar

No	1063
Date of Notice	31 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charlton Thompson	Hilda Emily Miller
	💍 1920/2859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	16
Dwelling Place	Clarkville	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	147
Consent	James William Miller (Father)
Date of Certificate	31 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1064

31 December 1919

Michael McHugh
Mary Sarah Roberts

Michael McHugh
Mary Sarah Roberts
💍 1919/7934

Widower, 17 February 1913
Widow, 1 February 1919

Labourer

45
41

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 days
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch

7535

31 December 1919

Rev. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	1064
Date of Notice	31 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael McHugh	Mary Sarah Roberts
	💍 1919/7934
Condition	Widower, 17 February 1913	Widow, 1 February 1919
Profession	Labourer
Age	45	41
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch
Folio	7535
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

1065

31 December 1919

Hugh Toneycliffe Falla
Evelyn Mauger Rabey

Hugh Toneycliffe Falla
Evelyn Mauger Rabey
💍 1920/2598

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

24
23

West Melton
West Melton

12 years
7 days

Residence of Mr H. Le Page, 38 Patten Street, Christchurch

31 December 1919

Rev. H. G. Goring, Baptist

No	1065
Date of Notice	31 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Toneycliffe Falla	Evelyn Mauger Rabey
	💍 1920/2598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	West Melton	West Melton
Length of Residence	12 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H. Le Page, 38 Patten Street, Christchurch
Folio	11
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Goring, Baptist

1066

31 December 1919

Horace Stanley Everest
Doris Ada Plumridge

Horace Stanley Everest
Doris Ada Plumridge
💍 1920/2599

Bachelor
Spinster

Enginedriver

22
21

Greenpark
Tai Tapu

20 years
18 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

31 December 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	1066
Date of Notice	31 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Stanley Everest	Doris Ada Plumridge
	💍 1920/2599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Enginedriver
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Greenpark	Tai Tapu
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	12
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

1067

31 December 1919

John Davison
Estelle Ida Lay

John Davison
Estelle Ida Lay
💍 1920/2600

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

29
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

St. John's Church, Christchurch

31 December 1919

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	1067
Date of Notice	31 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Davison	Estelle Ida Lay
	💍 1920/2600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	13
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 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).