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 2030

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 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

28 April 1919

Richard Alfred Thaine
Margaret Riley

Richard Alfred Thaine
Margaret Riley
💍 1919/3729

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Saleswoman

32
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

7 months
26 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

19/3691

28 April 1919

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

No	23
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Alfred Thaine	Margaret Riley
	💍 1919/3729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Saleswoman
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	7 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	19/3691
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

2 May 1919

Robert Ferris
Catherine May Wadsworth

Robert Ferris
Catherine May Wadsworth
💍 1919/3730

Bachelor
Spinster

Maltster
Domestic

34
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

8 years
2 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

19/3692

2 May 1919

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	2 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ferris	Catherine May Wadsworth
	💍 1919/3730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Maltster	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	19/3692
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

3 May 1919

James Wallace Logan
Lucy Dowe

James Wallace Logan
Lucy Dowe
💍 1919/3731

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic

27
28

Blenheim
Blenheim

27 years
8 years

St. Andrew's Church, Blenheim

19/3693

3 May 1919

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Minister

No	25
Date of Notice	3 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wallace Logan	Lucy Dowe
	💍 1919/3731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	27 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/3693
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian Minister

8 May 1919

Reginald Humphreys
Ruby Vera Young

Reginald Humphreys
Ruby Vera Young
💍 1919/3732

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Shop-Assistant

28
25

Seddon
Blenheim

16 years
25 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

19/3694

8 May 1919

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist Minister

No	26
Date of Notice	8 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Humphreys	Ruby Vera Young
	💍 1919/3732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Shop-Assistant
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Blenheim
Length of Residence	16 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/3694
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist Minister

19 May 1919

Patrick Bernard Branton
Mary Casey

Patrick Bernard Branton
Mary Casey
💍 1919/3734

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic

24
24

Blenheim
Spring Creek

24 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

19/3695

19 May 1919

Rev. Father O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	19 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Bernard Branton	Mary Casey
	💍 1919/3734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	19/3695
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

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).