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 2390

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

434

24 June 1919

Ernest Orchard
Florence Richardson

Ernest Orchard
Florence Richardson
💍 1919/2441

Widower, December 1909
Spinster

Auctioneer
Clerk

40
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
10 years

Methodist Church Cambridge Terrace Christchurch

2221

24 June 1919

Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

No	434
Date of Notice	24 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Orchard	Florence Richardson
	💍 1919/2441
Condition	Widower, December 1909	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Clerk
Age	40	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Cambridge Terrace Christchurch
Folio	2221
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Grigg, Methodist

435

24 June 1919

Frederick George Morgan
Gladys Mary Burson

Frederick George Morgan
Gladys Mary Curson
💍 1919/2442

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool classer
Shop assistant

29
26

Papanui
Papanui

13 years
9 years

St. Paul's Church Papanui

2222

24 June 1919

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

No	435
Date of Notice	24 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Morgan	Gladys Mary Burson
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick George Morgan	Gladys Mary Curson
	💍 1919/2442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool classer	Shop assistant
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	13 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Papanui
Folio	2222
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Anglican

436

24 June 1919

Archer John Henry Lange
Jessie McKenzie Caldwell

Arthur John Henry Lange
Jessie McKenzie Caldwell
💍 1919/2169

Bachelor
Divorced. Decree absolute dated 29.3.1919

Carpenter

37
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
7 years

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

1999

24 June 1919

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	436
Date of Notice	24 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archer John Henry Lange	Jessie McKenzie Caldwell
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur John Henry Lange	Jessie McKenzie Caldwell
	💍 1919/2169
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced. Decree absolute dated 29.3.1919
Profession	Carpenter
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	1999
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

437

25 June 1919

Arthur Dillon
Ellen Williamson Main Muir

Arthur Dillon
Ellen Williamina Main Muir
💍 1919/2443

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 years

All Saints' Church Burwood

2223

25 June 1919

Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

No	437
Date of Notice	25 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Dillon	Ellen Williamson Main Muir
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Dillon	Ellen Williamina Main Muir
	💍 1919/2443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church Burwood
Folio	2223
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Tobin, Anglican

438

26 June 1919

James McFarlane Duncan
Fanny Digby

James McFarlane Duncan
Fanny Digby
💍 1919/4960

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Waitress

36
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
6 years

Holy Trinity Church Avonside

4192

26 June 1919

Rev. O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	438
Date of Notice	26 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McFarlane Duncan	Fanny Digby
	💍 1919/4960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Waitress
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside
Folio	4192
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 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).