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 2392

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

444

27 June 1919

Lloyd Charles Andersen
Vera Whiteman

Charley Lloyd Andersen
Vera Whiteman
💍 1919/4181

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

21
19

Woolston
Woolston

10 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

Marion Whiteman, mother

License not issued. Bridegroom intends to give fresh notice

No	444
Date of Notice	27 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lloyd Charles Andersen	Vera Whiteman
BDM Match (70%)	Charley Lloyd Andersen	Vera Whiteman
	💍 1919/4181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio
Consent	Marion Whiteman, mother
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	License not issued. Bridegroom intends to give fresh notice

445

27 June 1919

William Pickering
Beatrice Victoria Turner

William Pickering
Beatrice Victoria Turner
💍 1919/1296

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
2 months

St. John's Church Christchurch

2228

27 June 1919

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	445
Date of Notice	27 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pickering	Beatrice Victoria Turner
	💍 1919/1296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	2 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	2228
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

446

27 June 1919

William Nicholls
Agnes Elizabeth Dunbar

William Nicholls
Agnes Elizabeth Dunlop
💍 1919/1297

Widower, 13 October 1918
Spinster

Wool Broker

65
46

Fendalton
Marshland

2 1/2 years
46 years

Knox Church Christchurch

2229

27 June 1919

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	446
Date of Notice	27 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Nicholls	Agnes Elizabeth Dunbar
BDM Match (93%)	William Nicholls	Agnes Elizabeth Dunlop
	💍 1919/1297
Condition	Widower, 13 October 1918	Spinster
Profession	Wool Broker
Age	65	46
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Marshland
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	46 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Christchurch
Folio	2229
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

447

28 June 1919

Ernest Osborne
Dorothy Beatrice Hamilton

Ernest Osborne
Dorothy Beatrice Hamilton
💍 1919/1298

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Employee

20
20

Sydenham
Linwood

Life
16 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

2230

Wm. Jos. Osborne, Father; Thos. Hamilton, Guardian

28 June 1919

Registrar

No	447
Date of Notice	28 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Osborne	Dorothy Beatrice Hamilton
	💍 1919/1298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Employee
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Linwood
Length of Residence	Life	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	2230
Consent	Wm. Jos. Osborne, Father; Thos. Hamilton, Guardian
Date of Certificate	28 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

448

28 June 1919

Hugh Nurse
Ethel Senior Woodhouse

Hugh Nurse
Ethel Senior Woodhouse
💍 1919/1299

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Civil Servant

41
40

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 weeks

Anglican Church Sumner

2231

28 June 1919

Rev. E. G. W. Powell, Anglican

No	448
Date of Notice	28 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Nurse	Ethel Senior Woodhouse
	💍 1919/1299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Civil Servant
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Sumner
Folio	2231
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. W. Powell, 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).