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 2314

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

30 January 1919

Ernest Bathye
Jane Maud Leigh

Ernest Battye
Jane Maud Leigh
💍 1919/4974

Bachelor
Widow 5.12.12

Labourer
Tailoress

40
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 months
8 months

Methodist Church Cambridge Terrace Christchurch

4182

30 January 1919

Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

No	56
Date of Notice	30 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Bathye	Jane Maud Leigh
BDM Match (96%)	Ernest Battye	Jane Maud Leigh
	💍 1919/4974
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 5.12.12
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	40	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Cambridge Terrace Christchurch
Folio	4182
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker, Methodist

31 January 1919

Raymond Cunningham Albertson
Henrietta Morgan

Raymond Cunningham Albertson
Henrietta Morgan
💍 1919/907

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
18

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

759

Ernest Fitzwilliam Morgan, Father

31 January 1919

Registrar

No	57
Date of Notice	31 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Cunningham Albertson	Henrietta Morgan
	💍 1919/907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	759
Consent	Ernest Fitzwilliam Morgan, Father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

31 January 1919

John Henry Hall Campbell
Mary Frankenstein

John Henry Hall Campbell
May Frankenstein
💍 1919/908

Bachelor
Previously married, but not heard of husband for 17 years last past.

Engineer

39
39

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 weeks
13 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

760

31 January 1919

Registrar

No	58
Date of Notice	31 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Hall Campbell	Mary Frankenstein
BDM Match (97%)	John Henry Hall Campbell	May Frankenstein
	💍 1919/908
Condition	Bachelor	Previously married, but not heard of husband for 17 years last past.
Profession	Engineer
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 weeks	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	760
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

31 January 1919

Leslie Brooklyn Stack
Ruby Elizabeth Robb

Leslie Brooklyn Stace
Ruby Elizabeth Robb
💍 1919/909

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

26
21

Springston
Linwood

26 years
1 week

Registrar's Office Christchurch

761

31 January 1919

Registrar

No	59
Date of Notice	31 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Brooklyn Stack	Ruby Elizabeth Robb
BDM Match (98%)	Leslie Brooklyn Stace	Ruby Elizabeth Robb
	💍 1919/909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Springston	Linwood
Length of Residence	26 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	761
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1 February 1919

William Henry McKinley
Amelia Emma Nichols

William Henry McKinley
Amelia Emma Nichols
💍 1919/910

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Dressmaker

41
40

Heathcote
Heathcote

6 weeks
2 months

St Mary's Church Heathcote

762

1 February 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	60
Date of Notice	1 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry McKinley	Amelia Emma Nichols
	💍 1919/910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Dressmaker
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Heathcote	Heathcote
Length of Residence	6 weeks	2 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Heathcote
Folio	762
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 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).