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 2505

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar S. Tyson

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

5 January 1920

Harry William Chisnall
Constance Isabel Townsend

Harry William Chisnall
Constance Isabel Townsend
💍 1920/5166

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower
Nurse

22
22

Stoke
Nelson

22 years
4 years

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

2619

5 January 1920

Rev. G. E. Weeks. Church of England.

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry William Chisnall	Constance Isabel Townsend
	💍 1920/5166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower	Nurse
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	2619
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks. Church of England.

5 January 1920

George Robert Beecroft
Rita Marion Heyward

George Robert Beecroft
Rita Marion Heyward
💍 1920/5168

Bachelor
Spinster

Pipe Maker
Clerk

26
24

Nelson
Nelson

9 days
9 years

Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

2620

5 January 1920

Rev. E. D. Patchett. Methodist.

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert Beecroft	Rita Marion Heyward
	💍 1920/5168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pipe Maker	Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	2620
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett. Methodist.

6 January 1920

George Brenchley Monson
Sylvia Marie Rankin

George Brenchley Monson
Sylvia Marie Rankin
💍 1920/5169

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic Duties

25
23

Nelson
Nelson

4 months
18 months

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

2621

6 January 1920

Rev. G. E. Weeks. Church of England.

No	3
Date of Notice	6 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brenchley Monson	Sylvia Marie Rankin
	💍 1920/5169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	2621
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks. Church of England.

6 January 1920

Thomas Glenn
Mary Ellen McConnell

Thomas Glenn
Mary Ellen McConnell
💍 1920/5170

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Steward
Domestic Duties

21
20

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 weeks

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2622

John Robert McConnell, Father

6 January 1920

Mr. S. Tyson. Registrar of Marriages.

No	4
Date of Notice	6 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Glenn	Mary Ellen McConnell
	💍 1920/5170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Steward	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2622
Consent	John Robert McConnell, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. Tyson. Registrar of Marriages.

6 January 1920

Charles Arthur Dodson
Ivy Annie Ruffell

Charles Arthur Dodson
Ivy Annie Ruffell
💍 1920/5171

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

33
25

Atawhai
Wakapuaka

30 years
25 years

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

2623

6 January 1920

Rev. G. E. Weeks. Church of England.

No	5
Date of Notice	6 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Arthur Dodson	Ivy Annie Ruffell
	💍 1920/5171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Atawhai	Wakapuaka
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	2623
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks. 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).