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 2036

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar C. E. Butcher

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

6 August 1919

Reginald Sheridan
Mary Evelyn Corbett

Reginald Sheridan
Mary Evelyn Corbett
💍 1919/6649

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
24

Spring Creek
Spring Creek

33 years
24 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

19/6108

6 August 1919

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	6 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Sheridan	Mary Evelyn Corbett
	💍 1919/6649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	33 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	19/6108
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

20 August 1919

William Byford
Mary Kate Reardon

William Byford
Mary Kate Reardon
💍 1919/6650

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

42
32

Blenheim
Blenheim

42 years
32 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

19/6109

20 August 1919

C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages

No	46
Date of Notice	20 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Byford	Mary Kate Reardon
	💍 1919/6650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	42 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	19/6109
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1919
Officiating Minister	C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages

25 August 1919

Leonard Hobson
Christina McLeod

Lenaord Hobson
Christina McLeod
💍 1919/6627

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic

19
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

19 years
2 years

Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands, Blenheim

19/6110

Robert Hobson, Father

25 August 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

No	47
Date of Notice	25 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Hobson	Christina McLeod
BDM Match (93%)	Lenaord Hobson	Christina McLeod
	💍 1919/6627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands, Blenheim
Folio	19/6110
Consent	Robert Hobson, Father
Date of Certificate	25 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Church

25 August 1919

Richard William Gill
Madeline Vercoe

Richard William Gill
Madeline Vercoe
💍 1919/6628

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

19
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

19 years
21 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

19/6111

James Gill, Father

25 August 1919

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	25 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard William Gill	Madeline Vercoe
	💍 1919/6628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	19 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	19/6111
Consent	James Gill, Father
Date of Certificate	25 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

3 September 1919

Bertie Nicholas
Emily Bartlett

Bertie Nicholas
Emily Bartlett
💍 1919/6629

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

19
19

Blenheim
Blenheim

6 months
6 months

Church of England, Weld St., Blenheim

19/6112

James Nicholas, Father; Annie Bartlett, Mother

3 September 1919

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	3 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Nicholas	Emily Bartlett
	💍 1919/6629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Weld St., Blenheim
Folio	19/6112
Consent	James Nicholas, Father; Annie Bartlett, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, 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).