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 2340

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

186

26 March 1919

Leonard Leslie Boot
Dorothy Katherine Peachy

Leonard Leslie Boot
Dorothy Katherine Peachey
💍 1919/4140

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Clerk

28
24

Christchurch
Beckenham

28 years
24 years

Residence of Mr J. A. Boot, 8 Avon Street, Christchurch

872

26 March 1919

Rev J. E. Moore, Congregationalist

No	186
Date of Notice	26 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Leslie Boot	Dorothy Katherine Peachy
BDM Match (98%)	Leonard Leslie Boot	Dorothy Katherine Peachey
	💍 1919/4140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Beckenham
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. A. Boot, 8 Avon Street, Christchurch
Folio	872
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. E. Moore, Congregationalist

187

27 March 1919

Alexander Scott Little
Ethel Elizabeth Craw

Alexander Scott Little
Ethel Elizabeth Craw
💍 1919/4141

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

36
22

Cashmere
Cashmere

35 years
1 1/2 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

873

27 March 1919

Registrar

No	187
Date of Notice	27 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Scott Little	Ethel Elizabeth Craw
	💍 1919/4141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Cashmere	Cashmere
Length of Residence	35 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	873
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

188

27 March 1919

George Lewis
Florence Martha Parker

George Lewis
Florence Martha Parker
💍 1919/991

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute dated 11th March 1918

Farmer
Nurse

26
24

Addington
Christchurch

24 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

875

27 March 1919

Registrar

No	188
Date of Notice	27 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lewis	Florence Martha Parker
	💍 1919/991
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute dated 11th March 1918
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Addington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	875
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

189

27 March 1919

Edwin Cook
Rose Chapman

Edwin Cook
Rose Chapman
💍 1919/980

Widower November 28 1908.
Spinster

Factory Employee

51
43

Sydenham
Sydenham

2 1/4 years
30 years

St Mary's Church, Addington

874

27 March 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	189
Date of Notice	27 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Cook	Rose Chapman
	💍 1919/980
Condition	Widower November 28 1908.	Spinster
Profession	Factory Employee
Age	51	43
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 1/4 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	874
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

190

27 March 1919

William George White
Ida Muriel Watson

William George White
Ida Muriel Watson
💍 1919/1903

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
24

Addington
Addington

2 months
6 months

St Mary's Church, Addington

1685

27 March 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	190
Date of Notice	27 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George White	Ida Muriel Watson
	💍 1919/1903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	2 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	1685
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 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).