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 2383

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 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

2 July 1920

Percy Saville Catley
Margaret Hart

Percy Saville Catley
Margaret Hart
💍 1920/8810

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
31

Fairhall
Okaramio

2 years
Life

Presbyterian Church, Okaramio

20/8695

2 July 1920

Mr. C. Brierly, Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	2 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Saville Catley	Margaret Hart
	💍 1920/8810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Fairhall	Okaramio
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Okaramio
Folio	20/8695
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. Brierly, Presbyterian

5 July 1920

Alan Ernest Holdaway
Ethel Margaret McFadden

Alan Ernest Holdaway
Ethel Margaret McFadden
💍 1920/8811

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Dressmaker

30
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
16 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

20/8696

Joseph McFadden, Father

5 July 1920

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	5 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Ernest Holdaway	Ethel Margaret McFadden
	💍 1920/8811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Dressmaker
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/8696
Consent	Joseph McFadden, Father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

6 July 1920

Alfred Lewis McMillan
Elizabeth Annie Finlay

Alfred Lewis McMillan
Elizabeth Annie Finlay
💍 1920/8812

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
27

Okaramio
Okaramio

7 days
27 years

Residence of Mr. R. Finlay, Okaramio

20/8697

6 July 1920

Rev. A. Berryman, Church of England

No	61
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Lewis McMillan	Elizabeth Annie Finlay
	💍 1920/8812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Okaramio	Okaramio
Length of Residence	7 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Finlay, Okaramio
Folio	20/8697
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Berryman, Church of England

8 July 1920

Ernest Simson
Jessye Murray

Ernest Simson
Jessye Murray
💍 1920/8820

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph lineman
Home duties

28
21

Blenheim
Grovetown

28 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

20/8698

8 July 1920

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	62
Date of Notice	8 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Simson	Jessye Murray
	💍 1920/8820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph lineman	Home duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Grovetown
Length of Residence	28 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/8698
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

10 July 1920

Allen Campbell Pattie
Phyllis Amy Bonny

Allen Campbell Pattie
Phyllis Amy Bonny
💍 1920/8821

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Schoolteacher

29
31

Blenheim
Blenheim

29 years
3 months

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

20/8699

10 July 1920

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

No	63
Date of Notice	10 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Campbell Pattie	Phyllis Amy Bonny
	💍 1920/8821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Schoolteacher
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	29 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	20/8699
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1920
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).