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 2330

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

136

7 March 1919

Frederick Norman Ambler
Helen Becquet Skelton

Frederick Norman Ambler
Helen Becquet Shelton
💍 1919/978

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Typiste

25
23

St Albans
Woolston

2 years
16 years

St Marks Church Opawa

831

7 March 1919

Rev H Williams Anglican

No	136
Date of Notice	7 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Norman Ambler	Helen Becquet Skelton
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Norman Ambler	Helen Becquet Shelton
	💍 1919/978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Typiste
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Woolston
Length of Residence	2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Opawa
Folio	831
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H Williams Anglican

137

7 March 1919

Harry Hill
Margaret Douglas Duffin

Harry Hill
Margaret Douglas Duffin
💍 1919/1921

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Clerk

25
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
4 years

Residence of Mrs Duffin 32 Aylmer Street Christchurch

1679

7 March 1919

Rev J. Dickson Presbyterian

No	137
Date of Notice	7 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hill	Margaret Douglas Duffin
	💍 1919/1921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Duffin 32 Aylmer Street Christchurch
Folio	1679
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Dickson Presbyterian

138

8 March 1919

Harold Gordon Lane
Gwendoline Emily Moody

Harold Gordon Lane
Gwendoline Emily Moody
💍 1919/979

Divorced Decree Absolute dated 23 April 1918
Spinster

Motor Salesman

31
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
18 months

Registrar's Office Christchurch

832

8 March 1919

Registrar

No	138
Date of Notice	8 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Gordon Lane	Gwendoline Emily Moody
	💍 1919/979
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute dated 23 April 1918	Spinster
Profession	Motor Salesman
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	832
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

139

8 March 1919

William Skerten
Elizabeth Hislop

William Skerten
Elizabeth Hislop
💍 1919/956

Widower 25.11.17
Widow 11.1.14

Farmer

54
55

Riccarton
Christchurch

1 year
3 years

Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch

833

8 March 1919

Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian

No	139
Date of Notice	8 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Skerten	Elizabeth Hislop
	💍 1919/956
Condition	Widower 25.11.17	Widow 11.1.14
Profession	Farmer
Age	54	55
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	833
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian

140

10 March 1919

Thomas Albert Shearman
Mary Goudy Patterson

Thomas Albert Shearman
Mary Goudy Patterson
💍 1919/957

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Dressmaker

43
35

St Albans
Christchurch

14 years
14 years

St Johns Church Christchurch

834

10 March 1919

Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	140
Date of Notice	10 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Albert Shearman	Mary Goudy Patterson
	💍 1919/957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Dressmaker
Age	43	35
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Christchurch
Folio	834
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks 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).