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 2396

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

456

1 July 1919

Frederick Taku Burnside
Reine Victoria Gordon

Frederick Tahu Burnside
Reine Victoria Gordon
💍 1919/5013

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

24
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
1 year

Anglican Church Phillipstown

4219

1 July 1919

Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	456
Date of Notice	1 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Taku Burnside	Reine Victoria Gordon
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Tahu Burnside	Reine Victoria Gordon
	💍 1919/5013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	1 year
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Phillipstown
Folio	4219
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

457

1 July 1919

Thomas Nuttall
Alice Maud Burson

Thomas Nuttall
Alice Maud Burson
💍 1919/4955

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

27
25

Taihape
Christchurch

3 months
1 month

Baptist Church Linwood

4187

1 July 1919

Rev. E. R. Smith, Baptist

No	457
Date of Notice	1 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Nuttall	Alice Maud Burson
	💍 1919/4955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Linwood
Folio	4187
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Smith, Baptist

458

2 July 1919

Frederick Clark Lukey
Ruby Gaston

Frederick Clark Lukey
Ruby Gaston
💍 1919/5015

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
28

Christchurch
Merivale

3 days
Life

St. Mary's Church Merivale

4220

2 July 1919

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	458
Date of Notice	2 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Clark Lukey	Ruby Gaston
	💍 1919/5015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Merivale
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Merivale
Folio	4220
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

459

2 July 1919

Alvyn Roderick Ayers
Beryl Maud Phillips

Avon Roderick Agers
Beryl Maud Phillips
💍 1919/5016

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

28
22

Christchurch
St. Albans

14 years
8 months

Residence of Mrs. A. R. Ayers, 29 Peacock St., Christchurch

4221

2 July 1919

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	459
Date of Notice	2 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alvyn Roderick Ayers	Beryl Maud Phillips
BDM Match (93%)	Avon Roderick Agers	Beryl Maud Phillips
	💍 1919/5016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	14 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. A. R. Ayers, 29 Peacock St., Christchurch
Folio	4221
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

460

2 July 1919

Robert Willis Thompson
Francesca Mildred Evenett

Robert Willis Thompson
Francesca Mildred Evenett
💍 1919/5017

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Saleswoman

30
30

Christchurch
Riccarton

1 day
3 years

Anglican Church Riccarton

4222

2 July 1919

Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

No	460
Date of Notice	2 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Willis Thompson	Francesca Mildred Evenett
	💍 1919/5017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Saleswoman
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	1 day	3 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Riccarton
Folio	4222
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. York, 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).