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 2326

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

116

26 February 1919

Herbert Hyde
Isabella Scotland Bishop

Herbert Hyde
Isabella Scotland Bishop
💍 1919/4104

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Waitress

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 weeks

Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch

815

26 February 1919

Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian

No	116
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hyde	Isabella Scotland Bishop
	💍 1919/4104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Waitress
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	815
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian

117

26 February 1919

Stewart Maxwell Elliott
Catherine Margaret McKearney

Stewart Maxwell Elliott
Catherine Margaret McKearney
💍 1919/4105

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

28
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

816

Mary McKearney Mother

26 February 1919

Rev P. J. Kennedy Roman Catholic

No	117
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Maxwell Elliott	Catherine Margaret McKearney
	💍 1919/4105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	816
Consent	Mary McKearney Mother
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Kennedy Roman Catholic

118

27 February 1919

Herbert William Frederick Petterd
Annie Isabella Bigg

Herbert William Frederick Petterd
Annie Isabella Bigg
💍 1919/1767

Widower 12.12.16
Spinster

Printer

40
24

Christchurch
Waimate

16 years
4 days

Presbyterian Church Waimate

1522

27 February 1919

Rev J. S. Clarke (of Waimate) Presbyterian

No	118
Date of Notice	27 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Frederick Petterd	Annie Isabella Bigg
	💍 1919/1767
Condition	Widower 12.12.16	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Waimate
Length of Residence	16 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Waimate
Folio	1522
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. S. Clarke (of Waimate) Presbyterian

119

27 February 1919

Herbert Donald George Johnston
Dorothy Myrtle Gladys Vale

Herbert Donald George Johnston
Dorothy Myrtle Gladys Vale
💍 1919/4106

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

18 years
22 years

St John's Church Christchurch

817

27 February 1919

Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

No	119
Date of Notice	27 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Donald George Johnston	Dorothy Myrtle Gladys Vale
	💍 1919/4106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	817
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Cocks Anglican

120

27 February 1919

Algernon Wilfrid Jones
Ida Ellen Huston

Algernon Wilfrid Jones
Ida Ellen Huston
💍 1919/1213

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocery Manager

26
26

Belfast
Belfast

15 years
26 years

St David's Church Belfast

1717

27 February 1919

Rev T. M. Curnow Anglican

No	120
Date of Notice	27 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Algernon Wilfrid Jones	Ida Ellen Huston
	💍 1919/1213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocery Manager
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Belfast	Belfast
Length of Residence	15 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St David's Church Belfast
Folio	1717
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev T. M. Curnow 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).