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 2158

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar S. Tyson

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

10 September 1919

Arthur Norman Burton
Rouhine Hockey

Arthur Norman Burton
Rouhine Hockey
💍 1919/6698

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory employee
Housemaid

23
17

Nelson
Nelson

21 years
17 years

Dwelling of the Rev. G. H. Gibb, Nile Street, Nelson

19/6157

Jean Hockey, Mother

10 September 1919

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	10 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Norman Burton	Rouhine Hockey
	💍 1919/6698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory employee	Housemaid
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	21 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of the Rev. G. H. Gibb, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	19/6157
Consent	Jean Hockey, Mother
Date of Certificate	10 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

11 September 1919

John Herbert Thorp
Olive Gray Calder

John Herbert Thorp
Olive Gray Culder
💍 1919/7118

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchard Instructor
Accountant

40
32

Dunedin
Nelson

22 years

Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson

19/6606

11 September 1919

Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

No	61
Date of Notice	11 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert Thorp	Olive Gray Calder
BDM Match (97%)	John Herbert Thorp	Olive Gray Culder
	💍 1919/7118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchard Instructor	Accountant
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Nelson
Length of Residence		22 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson
Folio	19/6606
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

16 September 1919

Charles Henry Thomas
Joyce Fordham Jones

Charles Henry Thomas
Joyce Fordham Jones
💍 1919/6699

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Typist

25
22

Nelson
Nelson

10 months
10 months

St Barnabas Church, Stoke

19/6158

16 September 1919

Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

No	62
Date of Notice	16 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Thomas	Joyce Fordham Jones
	💍 1919/6699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Typist
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	10 months	10 months
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church, Stoke
Folio	19/6158
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Carr, Church of England

17 September 1919

William Antony Reed
Ruby Edith Eades

William Antony Reed
Ruby Edith Eades
💍 1919/6700

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter-Carrier
Dental-Nurse

20
23

Nelson
Nelson

20 years
17 years

All Saints Vicarage, Dwelling of the Rev. Canon Wollstein, Vanguard Street, Nelson

19/6159

William Reed, Father

17 September 1919

Rev. Wm. Wollstein, Church of England

No	63
Date of Notice	17 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Antony Reed	Ruby Edith Eades
	💍 1919/6700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter-Carrier	Dental-Nurse
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	20 years	17 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Vicarage, Dwelling of the Rev. Canon Wollstein, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	19/6159
Consent	William Reed, Father
Date of Certificate	17 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Wollstein, Church of England

18 September 1919

Lawrence George Humphreys
Gertrude Florence Clark

Lawrence George Humphreys
Gertrude Florence Clark
💍 1919/6677

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor & Cycle Mechanic
Factory Assistant

23
21

Nelson
Nelson

15 years
5 years

St John's Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

19/6160

18 September 1919

Rev. G. B. Patchett, Methodist

No	64
Date of Notice	18 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence George Humphreys	Gertrude Florence Clark
	💍 1919/6677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor & Cycle Mechanic	Factory Assistant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	19/6160
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Patchett, 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).