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 2332

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

146

11 March 1919

Ernest Gladstone Barrell
Ruby Ellis Brown

Ernest Gladstone Barrell
Ruby Ellis Brown
💍 1919/963

Bachelor
Spinster

Undertaker

20
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
20 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

840

George Barrell, Father

11 March 1919

Registrar

No	146
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Gladstone Barrell	Ruby Ellis Brown
	💍 1919/963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Undertaker
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	840
Consent	George Barrell, Father
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

147

11 March 1919

Charles Clifford Kemp
Jane Maria Carleton

Charles Clifford Kemp
Jane Maria Carleton
💍 1919/1922

Bachelor
Spinster

University Clerk
Waitress

25
33

Riccarton
Fendalton

25 years
33 years

St Peter's Church Upper Riccarton

1680

11 March 1919

Rev H. J. York, Anglican

No	147
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Clifford Kemp	Jane Maria Carleton
	💍 1919/1922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	University Clerk	Waitress
Age	25	33
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Fendalton
Length of Residence	25 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Upper Riccarton
Folio	1680
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. J. York, Anglican

148

11 March 1919

Henry William Estall
Elizabeth Selby

Henry William Estall
Elizabeth Selby
💍 1919/964

Divorced decree absolute granted 30 May 1911
Widow 1st December 1917

Dyer
Fruiterer

48
39

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
39 years

St Paul's Church Christchurch

841

11 March 1919

Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	148
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Estall	Elizabeth Selby
	💍 1919/964
Condition	Divorced decree absolute granted 30 May 1911	Widow 1st December 1917
Profession	Dyer	Fruiterer
Age	48	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	39 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	841
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson, Presbyterian

149

11 March 1919

Thomas Henry Watts
Susan Ellen Shurrock

Thomas Henry Watts
Susan Ellen Shurrock
💍 1919/965

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Shop Assistant

24
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

24 years
7 years

St Michael's Church Christchurch

842

Henry Thomas Shurrock, Father

11 March 1919

Rev C. Perry, Anglican

No	149
Date of Notice	11 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Watts	Susan Ellen Shurrock
	💍 1919/965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Shop Assistant
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	842
Consent	Henry Thomas Shurrock, Father
Date of Certificate	11 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Perry, Anglican

150

12 March 1919

Owen Ward
Sarah Margaret Bauchop

Owen Ward
Sarah Margaret Bauchop
💍 1919/967

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram conductor

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
6 months

St Andrew's Church Christchurch

843

12 March 1919

Rev R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	150
Date of Notice	12 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Ward	Sarah Margaret Bauchop
	💍 1919/967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram conductor
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	843
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

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).