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 2476

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

848

8 November 1919

Charles Edward Johnston
Winifred Gladys Ward

Charles Edward Johnston
Winifred Gladys Ward
💍 1919/7773

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

22
20

St. Albans
Christchurch

5 days
6 years

St. Michael's and All Angel's Church, Christchurch

7346

24 November 1919

Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	848
Date of Notice	8 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Johnston	Winifred Gladys Ward
	💍 1919/7773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's and All Angel's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7346
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

849

8 November 1919

John Sleeman
Alice Margaret Strachan

John Sleeman
Alice Margaret Strachan
💍 1919/7774

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Machinist

24
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
13 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

7347

Elizabeth Strachan (Mother)

8 November 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	849
Date of Notice	8 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sleeman	Alice Margaret Strachan
	💍 1919/7774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Machinist
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	7347
Consent	Elizabeth Strachan (Mother)
Date of Certificate	8 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

850

10 November 1919

Hedley Frederick Chammen
Ivy Elizabeth Smith

Hedley Frederick Chammen
Ivy Elizabeth Smith
💍 1919/7775

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

31
20

Addington
Christchurch

7 months
3 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

7348

Elizabeth Smith (Mother)

10 November 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	850
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hedley Frederick Chammen	Ivy Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1919/7775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Addington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	7348
Consent	Elizabeth Smith (Mother)
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

851

10 November 1919

James Lawrence Kelliher
Agnes Eva Erridge

James Lawrence Kelliher
Agnes Eva Erridge
💍 1919/7776

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

30
20

Sydenham
Sydenham

2 months
3 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

7349

Walter Joseph Erridge (Father)

10 November 1919

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	851
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lawrence Kelliher	Agnes Eva Erridge
	💍 1919/7776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	7349
Consent	Walter Joseph Erridge (Father)
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

852

10 November 1919

Martin John Esker
Elizabeth Hardacre

Martin John Esker
Elizabeth Hardacre
💍 1919/7777

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

Residence of Mr. W. Chapman, 32 Cholmondeley Avenue, Opawa

7350

10 November 1919

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	852
Date of Notice	10 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin John Esker	Elizabeth Hardacre
	💍 1919/7777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Chapman, 32 Cholmondeley Avenue, Opawa
Folio	7350
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, 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).