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 2498

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

958

8 December 1919

Frederick Henry Smith
Cissie Cecilia Forward

Frederick Henry Smith
Cissie Cecilia Forward
💍 1919/7876

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage Painter

28
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
8 years

St Mary's Church Addington

7449

8 December 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	958
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Smith	Cissie Cecilia Forward
	💍 1919/7876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Painter
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	8 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	7449
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

959

8 December 1919

William Thomas Thompson
Margaret Hilda Wood

William Thomas Thompson
Margaret Hilda Wood
💍 1919/7877

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

37
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 months

Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch

7450

8 December 1919

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	959
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Thompson	Margaret Hilda Wood
	💍 1919/7877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	7450
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

960

8 December 1919

Philip Henry Dale
Emily Bevin

Philip Henry Dale
Emily Bevin
💍 1919/4517

Widower August 31-1919
Spinster

Engineer

75
57

Linwood
Linwood

7 years
13 years

Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch

7451

8 December 1919

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	960
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Henry Dale	Emily Bevin
	💍 1919/4517
Condition	Widower August 31-1919	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	75	57
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	7 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	7451
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

961

8 December 1919

Ernest Smedley Taylor
Elveina Agnes Donaldson

Ernest Smedley Taylor
Elveina Agnes Donaldson
💍 1919/9771

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
30

Papanui
St Albans

30 years
8 years

St Mary's Church Merivale

7565

8 December 1919

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	961
Date of Notice	8 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Smedley Taylor	Elveina Agnes Donaldson
	💍 1919/9771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Papanui	St Albans
Length of Residence	30 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	7565
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

962

9 December 1919

John Stephen Shimmin
Olive Beatrice Barker

John Stephen Shimmin
Olive Beatrice Barker
💍 1919/4528

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

23
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
9 months

St John's Church Christchurch

7452

9 December 1919

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	962
Date of Notice	9 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stephen Shimmin	Olive Beatrice Barker
	💍 1919/4528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	7452
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 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).