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 2373

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

23 March 1920

John Auriel Collins Kelly
Wilhelmina Pearl Hopkins

John Auriel Collins Kelly
Wilhelmina Pearl Hopkins
💍 1920/3771

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel-Keeper
Clerk

24
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

20/2592

23 March 1920

Rev. A. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

No	21
Date of Notice	23 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Auriel Collins Kelly	Wilhelmina Pearl Hopkins
	💍 1920/3771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel-Keeper	Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/2592
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

24 March 1920

Kenneth Clarence Gill
Matilda May Millard

Kenneth Clarence Gill
Matilda May Millard
💍 1920/3772

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Tailoress

21
21

Grovetown
Grovetown

21 years
21 years

Church of England, Grovetown

20/2593

24 March 1920

Rev. Wollstein, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	24 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Clarence Gill	Matilda May Millard
	💍 1920/3772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Tailoress
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Grovetown
Folio	20/2593
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wollstein, Church of England

27 March 1920

Roderick Donald Cameron
Olive May Sneider

Roderick Donald Cameron
Olive May Sneider
💍 1920/3773

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
25

Okaramio
Okaramio

30 years
25 years

Residence of Mrs. Sneider, Okaramio

20/2594

27 March 1920

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	27 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Donald Cameron	Olive May Sneider
	💍 1920/3773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Okaramio	Okaramio
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Sneider, Okaramio
Folio	20/2594
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

30 March 1920

Frank Coldwell
Annie Rayner

Frank Coldwell
Annie Rayner
💍 1920/3775

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Home Duties

30
40

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 years
40 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

20/2595

30 March 1920

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

No	24
Date of Notice	30 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Coldwell	Annie Rayner
	💍 1920/3775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Home Duties
Age	30	40
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	20/2595
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch G. W. York, Church of England

31 March 1920

Vincent Noble Beasley
Ruby Jordan

Vincent Noble Beasley
Ruby Ella Jordan
💍 1920/3907

Widower 21/11/1918
Spinster

Accountant
Home Duties

33
27

Blenheim
Wellington

8 years
4 days

Catholic Presbytery, Patterson Street, Wellington

20/3177

31 March 1920

Rev. Father J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	31 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vincent Noble Beasley	Ruby Jordan
BDM Match (84%)	Vincent Noble Beasley	Ruby Ella Jordan
	💍 1920/3907
Condition	Widower 21/11/1918	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Home Duties
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Catholic Presbytery, Patterson Street, Wellington
Folio	20/3177
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. Bowe, 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).