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 2320

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

12 February 1919

Samuel James Hull Doak
Ethel Emily Dunlop

Samuel James Hull Doak
Ethel Emily Dunlop
💍 1919/935

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

26
22

Belfast
St Albans

3 days
5 months

Presbyterian Manse Papanui

787

12 February 1919

Rev D D Rodger, Presbyterian

No	86
Date of Notice	12 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel James Hull Doak	Ethel Emily Dunlop
	💍 1919/935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Belfast	St Albans
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Papanui
Folio	787
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D D Rodger, Presbyterian

12 February 1919

William Sydney Wilson
Marietta Alice Hadfield Orange

William Sydney Wilson
Marietta Alice Hadfield Orange
💍 1919/936

Divorced Decree absolute date May 11 1917
Spinster

Driver

36
21

St Albans
St Albans

6 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

788

12 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	87
Date of Notice	12 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sydney Wilson	Marietta Alice Hadfield Orange
	💍 1919/936
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute date May 11 1917	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	788
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

12 February 1919

Claude Murray Walden
Mabel Bowden Howard

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

21
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
15 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

Not solemnised see attached E.E.H.

12 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	88
Date of Notice	12 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Murray Walden	Mabel Bowden Howard
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	Not solemnised see attached E.E.H.
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

13 February 1919

Frederick Haynes Pratt
Isabella Martha Stapleton

Frederick Haynes Pratt
Isabella Martha Stapleton
💍 1919/937

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter N.Z.R
Saleswoman

32
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
12 years

St Mary's Church Addington

789

13 February 1919

Rev W D Bean, Anglican

No	89
Date of Notice	13 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Haynes Pratt	Isabella Martha Stapleton
	💍 1919/937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter N.Z.R	Saleswoman
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	12 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	789
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W D Bean, Anglican

14 February 1919

Peter Kearney Draper
Stella Mary Brewer

Peter Kearney Draper
Stella Mary Brewer
💍 1919/938

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
19

Templeton
Templeton

6 months
19 years

Residence of Mrs Brewer Templeton

790

Mary Ann Brewer (mother)

14 February 1919

Rev J Harris, Methodist

No	90
Date of Notice	14 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Kearney Draper	Stella Mary Brewer
	💍 1919/938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Templeton	Templeton
Length of Residence	6 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Brewer Templeton
Folio	790
Consent	Mary Ann Brewer (mother)
Date of Certificate	14 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J Harris, Methodist

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).