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 2304

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

8 January 1919

Alexander Johnston
Margaret Ann Montgomery

Alexander Johnston
Margaret Ann Montgomery
💍 1919/861

Widower 8.8.16
Spinster

Publican
Cook

58
26

Papanui
Papanui

3 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

713

8 January 1919

Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	8 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Johnston	Margaret Ann Montgomery
	💍 1919/861
Condition	Widower 8.8.16	Spinster
Profession	Publican	Cook
Age	58	26
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	713
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

9 January 1919

Royal Bellamy Cape-Williamson
Ethel Wakefield Tucker

Royal Bellamy Cape-Williamson
Ethel Wakefield Tucker
💍 1919/862

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Surgeon

32
31

Christchurch
St. Albans

27 years
27 years

St. Matthews Church, St. Albans

714

9 January 1919

Rev. A. Hare, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	9 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Royal Bellamy Cape-Williamson	Ethel Wakefield Tucker
	💍 1919/862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, St. Albans
Folio	714
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hare, Anglican

9 January 1919

Philip Raphel Black
Maggie May Wotton

Philip Raphel Black
Maggie May Wotton
💍 1919/863

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
22

Belfast
Belfast

9 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

715

9 January 1919

Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	9 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Raphel Black	Maggie May Wotton
	💍 1919/863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Belfast	Belfast
Length of Residence	9 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	715
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

10 January 1919

Joseph Walter Chisnall
Margaret Baillie Clarke

Joseph Walter Chisnall
Margaret Baillie Clarke
💍 1919/864

Divorced Decree Absolute dated 25 October 1911
Widow 10 September 1912

Baker
Fruiterer

37
44

St. Albans
St. Albans

7 days
3 years

Knox Church, Christchurch

716

10 January 1919

Rev. J. K. MacDonald, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	10 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Walter Chisnall	Margaret Baillie Clarke
	💍 1919/864
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute dated 25 October 1911	Widow 10 September 1912
Profession	Baker	Fruiterer
Age	37	44
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	7 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Christchurch
Folio	716
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. MacDonald, Presbyterian

10 January 1919

John Hickey
Emily Jenkins

John Hickey
Emily Jenkins
💍 1919/865

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Driver
Weaver

34
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 days
13 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

717

10 January 1919

Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	10 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hickey	Emily Jenkins
	💍 1919/865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Driver	Weaver
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 days	13 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	717
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).