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 2810

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1920

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

639

2 June 1920

Alexander Plunkett Burnes
Frances Menlove

Alexander Plunkett Barnes
Frances Menlove
💍 1920/382

Widower, September, 1918.
Spinster

no occupation

57
53

Sumner
Sumner

2 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch.

3861

2 June 1920

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	639
Date of Notice	2 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Plunkett Burnes	Frances Menlove
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Plunkett Barnes	Frances Menlove
	💍 1920/382
Condition	Widower, September, 1918.	Spinster
Profession	no occupation
Age	57	53
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Sumner
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch.
Folio	3861
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

640

2 June 1920

Rüder Friedrich Mehrtens
Bessie McIntyre

Ruder Friedrich Mehrteus
Bessie McIntyre
💍 1920/383

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

38
29

Halswell
Christchurch

20 years
4 years

St. Martin's Church, Lincoln Road, Christchurch.

3862

2 June 1920

Rev. C. C. Oldham, Anglican

No	640
Date of Notice	2 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rüder Friedrich Mehrtens	Bessie McIntyre
BDM Match (94%)	Ruder Friedrich Mehrteus	Bessie McIntyre
	💍 1920/383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Halswell	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Martin's Church, Lincoln Road, Christchurch.
Folio	3862
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Oldham, Anglican

641

2 June 1920

Clarence Edward Bennington
Annie Frances Medcalf

Clarence Edward Bennington
Annie Frances Medcalf
💍 1920/384

Bachelor
Divorced. Decree absolute dated 9 March 1920.

Motordriver

28
48

New Brighton
Christchurch

6 months
6 months

Residence of Mr. Bennington, 30, Keppel Street, New Brighton.

3863

2 June 1920

Rev. S. P. Blamires, Methodist

No	641
Date of Notice	2 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Edward Bennington	Annie Frances Medcalf
	💍 1920/384
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced. Decree absolute dated 9 March 1920.
Profession	Motordriver
Age	28	48
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Bennington, 30, Keppel Street, New Brighton.
Folio	3863
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. P. Blamires, Methodist

642

3 June 1920

John Clifford Flaws
Ailiffe May Southen

John Clifford Flaws
Ailiffe May Southen
💍 1920/385

Widower. August 24, 1918.
Spinster

Shepherd

27
23

Riccarton
Riccarton

3 days
Life

Church of England, Riccarton.

3864

3 June 1920

Rev. H. S. York, Anglican

No	642
Date of Notice	3 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clifford Flaws	Ailiffe May Southen
	💍 1920/385
Condition	Widower. August 24, 1918.	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Riccarton.
Folio	3864
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. York, Anglican

643

4 June 1920

William Clark
Annie Eliza Gladden

William Clark
Annie Eliza Gladden
💍 1920/362

Widower. 9. 12. 1917.
Spinster

Builder

68
59

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
Life

Registrar's Office, Christchurch.

3865

4 June 1920

Registrar

No	643
Date of Notice	4 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clark	Annie Eliza Gladden
	💍 1920/362
Condition	Widower. 9. 12. 1917.	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	68	59
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch.
Folio	3865
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).