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 2502

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

978

12 December 1919

Ernest Albert Smith
Martha Evelyn Arnold

Ernest Albert Smith
Martha Evelyn Arnold
💍 1919/4525

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

23
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. J. Arnold, 34 Walker Street, Christchurch

7467

James Jacob Arnold (Father)

12 December 1919

Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

No	978
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Smith	Martha Evelyn Arnold
	💍 1919/4525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Arnold, 34 Walker Street, Christchurch
Folio	7467
Consent	James Jacob Arnold (Father)
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

979

12 December 1919

Neil McDonald
Violet Jane Knight

Neil McDonald
Violet Jane Knight
💍 1919/4526

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Tailoress

30
27

Sydenham
St Albans

14 years
6 months

St Mary's Presbytery, Manchester St., Christchurch

7468

12 December 1919

Rev. B. J. Seymour, Roman Catholic

No	979
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil McDonald	Violet Jane Knight
	💍 1919/4526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Tailoress
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	St Albans
Length of Residence	14 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Presbytery, Manchester St., Christchurch
Folio	7468
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. J. Seymour, Roman Catholic

980

12 December 1919

Arthur George Rayner
Myrtle Ellen Vogan

Arthur George Rayner
Myrtle Ellen Vogan
💍 1919/4527

Bachelor
Widow (29 October 1918)

Labourer

29
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 weeks
2 years

St Paul's Church, Christchurch

7469

13 December 1919

Rev. J. Patterson, Presbyterian

No	980
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Rayner	Myrtle Ellen Vogan
	💍 1919/4527
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (29 October 1918)
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7469
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Patterson, Presbyterian

981

13 December 1919

Frederick James Philpott
Janet May Stitchings

Frederick James Philpott
Janet May Hitchings
💍 1919/4529

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

46
42

St Albans
Sydenham

20 years
42 years

Methodist Church, Sydenham

7470

13 December 1919

Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

No	981
Date of Notice	13 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Philpott	Janet May Stitchings
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick James Philpott	Janet May Hitchings
	💍 1919/4529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	46	42
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Sydenham
Length of Residence	20 years	42 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Sydenham
Folio	7470
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

982

13 December 1919

Wilford Albert Toon
Winifred Dyer

Wilford Albert Toon
Winnifred Dyer
💍 1919/4530

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
18

Fendalton
Fendalton

6 months
18 months

St Barnabas Church, Fendalton

7471

Joseph Galbraith Dyer (Father)

13 December 1919

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	982
Date of Notice	13 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilford Albert Toon	Winifred Dyer
BDM Match (96%)	Wilford Albert Toon	Winnifred Dyer
	💍 1919/4530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Fendalton
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	7471
Consent	Joseph Galbraith Dyer (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, 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).