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 2462

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

778

18 October 1919

Dawson Briggs
Gladys Irene Henwood

Dawson Briggs
Gladys Irene Henwood
💍 1919/7755

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

26
20

Bromley
Spreydon

10 years
Life

Residence of Mr E. H. Henwood, 97 Colombo Rd, Spreydon

7280

Edwin Horatio Henwood (Father)

18 October 1919

Rev. J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	778
Date of Notice	18 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dawson Briggs	Gladys Irene Henwood
	💍 1919/7755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Bromley	Spreydon
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr E. H. Henwood, 97 Colombo Rd, Spreydon
Folio	7280
Consent	Edwin Horatio Henwood (Father)
Date of Certificate	18 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

779

20 October 1919

Eric Francis Ebenezer Baker
Mary Leighton

Eric Francis Ebenezer Baker
Mary Leighton
💍 1919/7756

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Manager
Clerk

26
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
18 years

St Paul's Church Christchurch

7281

20 October 1919

Rev. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	779
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Francis Ebenezer Baker	Mary Leighton
	💍 1919/7756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager	Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	18 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	7281
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

780

20 October 1919

Raymond Taylor
Zella May Harris

Raymond Taylor
Zella Maud Harris
💍 1919/7757

Bachelor
Spinster

Building Contractor

27
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
1 week

St Andrew's Church Christchurch

7282

20 October 1919

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	780
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Taylor	Zella May Harris
BDM Match (94%)	Raymond Taylor	Zella Maud Harris
	💍 1919/7757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Building Contractor
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	7282
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

781

21 October 1919

John Joseph Ardagh
Amelia Veronica Hanna

John Joseph Ardagh
Amelia Veronica Hanna
💍 1919/9554

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Surgeon
Milliner

33
23

Christchurch
Timaru

2 months
3 days

Sacred Heart Church Timaru

9221

21 October 1919

Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

No	781
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Ardagh	Amelia Veronica Hanna
	💍 1919/9554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon	Milliner
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church Timaru
Folio	9221
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tubman, Roman Catholic

782

21 October 1919

Frederick Augustus de Malmanche
Dorcas May Ward

Frederick Augustus de Malmanche
Dorcas May Ward
💍 1919/7758

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Maker
Waitress

29
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Holy Trinity Church Avonside

7283

21 October 1919

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	782
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Augustus de Malmanche	Dorcas May Ward
	💍 1919/7758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Maker	Waitress
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside
Folio	7283
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Fitzgerald, 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).