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 2452

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

728

2 October 1919

Frederick Dobby Garland
Caroline Needham Wilkinson

Garland Frederick Dobby
Caroline Needham Wilkinson
💍 1919/7658

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
23

Marshland
Styx

22 years
9 years

Residence of Mr Wilkinson Marshland Rd Styx

7231

2 October 1919

Mr H. Spencer, Methodist

No	728
Date of Notice	2 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Dobby Garland	Caroline Needham Wilkinson
BDM Match (65%)	Garland Frederick Dobby	Caroline Needham Wilkinson
	💍 1919/7658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Marshland	Styx
Length of Residence	22 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Wilkinson Marshland Rd Styx
Folio	7231
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr H. Spencer, Methodist

729

2 October 1919

Herbert Edward Horner Robinson
Laura Priscilla Waters

Herbert Edward Horner Robinson
Laura Priscilla Waters
💍 1919/7659

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

25
27

Redcliffs
Papanui

16 years
10 years

St Andrews Church Christchurch

7232

2 October 1919

Rev R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	729
Date of Notice	2 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edward Horner Robinson	Laura Priscilla Waters
	💍 1919/7659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Redcliffs	Papanui
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Christchurch
Folio	7232
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

730

3 October 1919

John Porteous Fisher
Margaret Rae Campbell Robertson

John Porteous Fisher
Margret Rae Campbell Robertson
💍 1919/7660

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

30
33

Christchurch
Avonside

7 days
33 years

St Paul's Church Christchurch

7233

3 October 1919

Rev. J Paterson, Presbyterian

No	730
Date of Notice	3 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Porteous Fisher	Margaret Rae Campbell Robertson
BDM Match (98%)	John Porteous Fisher	Margret Rae Campbell Robertson
	💍 1919/7660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Avonside
Length of Residence	7 days	33 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	7233
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J Paterson, Presbyterian

731

3 October 1919

John Walter Peek
Jeanne Spiers Sinclair

John Walter Peek
Jeanne Spiers Sinclair
💍 1919/7661

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

32
35

Linwood
Linwood

3 weeks
2 weeks

Residence of Mr J.W. Peek 498 St Asaph Street Linwood

7234

3 October 1919

Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	731
Date of Notice	3 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walter Peek	Jeanne Spiers Sinclair
	💍 1919/7661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J.W. Peek 498 St Asaph Street Linwood
Folio	7234
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

732

3 October 1919

Daniel Forrester
Olive Elizabeth Brealy

Daniel Forrester
Olive Elizabeth Brealy
💍 1919/7638

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Tailoress

25
22

Sydenham
Spreydon

9 years
5 years

St Mary's Church Addington

7235

3 October 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	732
Date of Notice	3 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Forrester	Olive Elizabeth Brealy
	💍 1919/7638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Tailoress
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Spreydon
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	7235
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, 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).