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 2757

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

385

6 April 1920

Harold Vincent Harrison
Mary Napier

Harold Vincent Harrison
May Piper
💍 1920/4090

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer
Clerk

28
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
18 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

3616

6 April 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	385
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Vincent Harrison	Mary Napier
BDM Match (82%)	Harold Vincent Harrison	May Piper
	💍 1920/4090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer	Clerk
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3616
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

386

6 April 1920

Cecil Francis Cook
Frances Amelia Askew

Cecil Francis Cook
Frances Amelia Askew
💍 1920/4091

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Waitress

31
20

St. Albans
St. Albans

3 days
2 years

St. Matthew's Church, Christchurch

3617

Walter Askew, Father

6 April 1920

Rev. A. H. Ore, Anglican

No	386
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Francis Cook	Frances Amelia Askew
	💍 1920/4091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Waitress
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3617
Consent	Walter Askew, Father
Date of Certificate	6 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Ore, Anglican

387

6 April 1920

Walter Colquhoun McGill
Kathleen Finlay

Walter Colquhoun McGill
Kathleen Finlay
💍 1920/4092

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant

25
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch

3618

6 April 1920

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	387
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Colquhoun McGill	Kathleen Finlay
	💍 1920/4092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch
Folio	3618
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

388

6 April 1920

Stewart John Scoones
Margaret Magnusen

Stewart John Scoones
Margaret Magnusen
💍 1920/4093

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

31
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
2 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3619

6 April 1920

Registrar

No	388
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart John Scoones	Margaret Magnusen
	💍 1920/4093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3619
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

389

6 April 1920

William Charles Warmen
Margaret Young

William Charles Warman
Margaret Young
💍 1920/4094

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal Turner
Dressmaker

24
26

Spreydon
St. Albans

16 years
7 days

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

3620

6 April 1920

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	389
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Warmen	Margaret Young
BDM Match (98%)	William Charles Warman	Margaret Young
	💍 1920/4094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal Turner	Dressmaker
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	St. Albans
Length of Residence	16 years	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	3620
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

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).