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 2375

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 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

1 April 1920

Leonard Walter Millard
Ruby Constance Hoult

Leonard Walter Millard
Ruby Constance Hoult
💍 1920/1988

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
19

Grovetown
Grovetown

24 years
19 years

Residence of Mr W. Hoult, Grovetown

20/5750

William Hoult, father

1 April 1920

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	1 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Walter Millard	Ruby Constance Hoult
	💍 1920/1988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	24 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Hoult, Grovetown
Folio	20/5750
Consent	William Hoult, father
Date of Certificate	1 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

6 April 1920

Rupert Nikau Vernon Pike
Gladys Annie Holdaway

Rubert Nikau Vernon Pike
Gladys Annie Holdaway
💍 1920/1896

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

16 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

20/5751

6 April 1920

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert Nikau Vernon Pike	Gladys Annie Holdaway
BDM Match (98%)	Rubert Nikau Vernon Pike	Gladys Annie Holdaway
	💍 1920/1896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	16 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/5751
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

16 April 1920

Digby Arthur Jenkins
Ida May Loe

Digby Arthur Jenkins
Ida May Loe
💍 1920/1907

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Domestic duties

48
41

Blenheim
Blenheim

6 1/2 years
14 1/2 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

20/5752

16 April 1920

Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	16 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Digby Arthur Jenkins	Ida May Loe
	💍 1920/1907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic duties
Age	48	41
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	6 1/2 years	14 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	20/5752
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wollstein, Church of England

20 April 1920

George Henry Thomas
Lillian Eva Sands

George Henry Thomas
Lillian Eva Sands
💍 1920/1914

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Accountant

27
22

Grovetown
Grovetown

23 years
3 weeks

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

20/5753

20 April 1920

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

No	29
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Thomas	Lillian Eva Sands
	💍 1920/1914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Accountant
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	23 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	20/5753
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

20 April 1920

Harold John Squire
Nora Annie Gifford

Harold John Squire
Nora Annie Gifford
💍 1920/1915

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
28

Rapaura
Rapaura

30 years
28 years

Methodist Church, Rapaura

20/5754

20 April 1920

Rev. H. Ryan, Methodist

No	30
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold John Squire	Nora Annie Gifford
	💍 1920/1915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Rapaura	Rapaura
Length of Residence	30 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Rapaura
Folio	20/5754
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Ryan, 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).