Intentions to Marry, 1920 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840493, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920f contains pages 2345-2956, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2371

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1920 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

27 February 1920

Walter Wilfred Wells
Eileen Frances Humffreys

Walter Wilfred Wells
Eileen Frances Humffreys
💍 1920/3786

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

34
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr. J. Gledhill, Marshlands

20/2583

27 February 1920

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	27 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Wilfred Wells	Eileen Frances Humffreys
	💍 1920/3786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Gledhill, Marshlands
Folio	20/2583
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

2 March 1920

Colin Walter Craig
Adelpha Mary Healy

Colin Walter Craig
Adelpha Mary Healy
💍 1920/3787

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Dressmaker

23
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

20/2584

2 March 1920

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Walter Craig	Adelpha Mary Healy
	💍 1920/3787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Dressmaker
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/2584
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

5 March 1920

Joseph William Gilmore
Helen Muriel Revans

Joseph William Gilmore
Helen Muriel Revans
💍 1920/5163

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

32
25

Motueka
Blenheim

3 days
9 months

Residence of Mr. J. F. Smith, King Edward Street, Motueka

20/2616

5 March 1920

Mr. W. J. Harvey, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	5 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Gilmore	Helen Muriel Revans
	💍 1920/5163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. F. Smith, King Edward Street, Motueka
Folio	20/2616
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. W. J. Harvey, Presbyterian

8 March 1920

John Henderson McLoed Tindall
Alice Mabel Rowe

John Henderson McLeod Tindall
Alice Mabel Rowe
💍 1920/3764

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-Labourer
Domestic

37
31

Renwicktown
Renwicktown

20 years
31 years

Presbyterian Church, Renwicktown

20/2585

8 March 1920

Mr. C. Brierly, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	8 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henderson McLoed Tindall	Alice Mabel Rowe
BDM Match (97%)	John Henderson McLeod Tindall	Alice Mabel Rowe
	💍 1920/3764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-Labourer	Domestic
Age	37	31
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Renwicktown
Length of Residence	20 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Renwicktown
Folio	20/2585
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. Brierly, Presbyterian

12 March 1920

Frederick Norman Ching
Doris Crook

Frederick Norman Ching
Doris Crook
💍 1920/3765

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Waitress

19
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

19 years
20 years

Presbyterian Manse, Blenheim

20/2586

William Henry Ching, father; Elizabeth Jane Warner, mother

12 March 1920

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Norman Ching	Doris Crook
	💍 1920/3765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Waitress
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Blenheim
Folio	20/2586
Consent	William Henry Ching, father; Elizabeth Jane Warner, mother
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

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).