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 2294

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar W. W. White

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 August 1919

Leslie Albert Knight
Mary Bertha Moore

Leslie Albert Knight
Mary Bertha Moore
💍 1919/6750

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders N.Z.E.F.
Domestic Duties

29
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

1 day
2 months

St. Stephen's Church Ashburton

6226

30 August 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Albert Knight	Mary Bertha Moore
	💍 1919/6750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders N.Z.E.F.	Domestic Duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 day	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church Ashburton
Folio	6226
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

2 September 1919

Alfred Boyd
Ethel Mary Noble

Alfred Boyd
Ethel Mary Noble
💍 1919/6761

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

30
33

Lynnford
Lynnford

8 years
20 years

St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton

6227

2 September 1919

Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

No	55
Date of Notice	2 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Boyd	Ethel Mary Noble
	💍 1919/6761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Lynnford	Lynnford
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England Ashburton
Folio	6227
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright Church of England

8 September 1919

Alexander William McKenzie
Alice Elizabeth Lockhard

Alexander William McKenzie
Alice Elizabeth Lockhard
💍 1919/6768

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

24
23

Trevorton
Ashburton

24 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

6228

8 September 1919

Rev. Geo. Miller Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	8 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander William McKenzie	Alice Elizabeth Lockhard
	💍 1919/6768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Trevorton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	6228
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Miller Presbyterian

23 September 1919

Norman Frederick Evans
Jessie Gertrude Clarke

Norman Frederick Evans
Jessie Gertrude Clarke
💍 1919/6769

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

22
19

Methven
Allenton

19 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

6229

James Frederick Clarke Father of minor

23 September 1919

W. W. White Registrar

No	57
Date of Notice	23 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Frederick Evans	Jessie Gertrude Clarke
	💍 1919/6769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Methven	Allenton
Length of Residence		19 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	6229
Consent	James Frederick Clarke Father of minor
Date of Certificate	23 September 1919
Officiating Minister	W. W. White Registrar

26 September 1919

Richard Carruthers
Alice Mary Gluyas

Richard Carruthers
Alice Mary Gluyas
💍 1919/6770

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
domestic duties

30
24

Longbeach
Longbeach

26 years
16 years

Church of England Longbeach

6230

26 September 1919

Rev. A. B. Jones Church of England

No	58
Date of Notice	26 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Carruthers	Alice Mary Gluyas
	💍 1919/6770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Longbeach	Longbeach
Length of Residence	26 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Longbeach
Folio	6230
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Jones Church of England

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).