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 2306

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

13 January 1919

Henry Dan Broadhead
Hilda Innes Stewart

Henry Dan Broadhead
Hilda Junes Stewart
💍 1919/871

Bachelor
Spinster

University Lecturer

29
25

St Albans
Christchurch

7 years
7 years

St Mary's Church Addington

722

13 January 1919

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	13 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dan Broadhead	Hilda Innes Stewart
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Dan Broadhead	Hilda Junes Stewart
	💍 1919/871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	University Lecturer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	St Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	722
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

13 January 1919

Joseph Patrick Mullaney
Jessie Keay Seagley

Joseph Patrick Mullaney
Sedgley Jessie Keay
💍 1919/872

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman

22
29

Christchurch
St Albans

18 years
4 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

723

13 January 1919

Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	13 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Patrick Mullaney	Jessie Keay Seagley
BDM Match (63%)	Joseph Patrick Mullaney	Sedgley Jessie Keay
	💍 1919/872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman
Age	22	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St Albans
Length of Residence	18 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	723
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

14 January 1919

William Lewis
Emily Evelyn Mozley

William Lewis
Emily Evelyn Mazey
💍 1919/880

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

29
26

Avonside
Christchurch

20 years
26 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

724

14 January 1919

Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	14 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lewis	Emily Evelyn Mozley
BDM Match (95%)	William Lewis	Emily Evelyn Mazey
	💍 1919/880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Avonside	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	724
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

14 January 1919

Herbert Charles Ross
Catherine Annie Skilton

Herbert Charles Ross
Catherine Annie Skilton
💍 1919/891

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

19
20

Christchurch
Avonside

19 years
1 year

Registrar's Office Christchurch

725

John Owen Skilton, Father (14 days notice)

31 January 1919

Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	14 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Charles Ross	Catherine Annie Skilton
	💍 1919/891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Avonside
Length of Residence	19 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	725
Consent	John Owen Skilton, Father (14 days notice)
Date of Certificate	31 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

14 January 1919

James George Troon
Sylvia Rose McQuarrie

James George Troon
Sylvia Rose McQuarrie
💍 1919/898

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Motorman

26
22

Linwood
Linwood

5 days
5 days

Residence, 85 Bordesley Street, Linwood

726

14 January 1919

Rev. J. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	14 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George Troon	Sylvia Rose McQuarrie
	💍 1919/898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Motorman
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence, 85 Bordesley Street, Linwood
Folio	726
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McDonald, 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).