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 2687

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

14 January 1920

Henry Sunbeam
Helena Louisa Leockle

Henry Sunbeam
Helena Louise Cockle
💍 1920/2679

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer

25
21

New Brighton
Sydenham

11 years
3 years

St. Saviour's Church Sydenham

193

14 January 1920

Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

No	41
Date of Notice	14 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Sunbeam	Helena Louisa Leockle
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Sunbeam	Helena Louise Cockle
	💍 1920/2679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Sydenham
Length of Residence	11 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	193
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

14 January 1920

Gordon Harold McCree
Ada Barber

Gorden Harold McCree
Ada Barber
💍 1920/2680

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

21
22

Sydenham
Sydenham

10 years
5 years

St. Saviour's Church Sydenham

194

14 January 1920

Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

No	42
Date of Notice	14 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Harold McCree	Ada Barber
BDM Match (98%)	Gorden Harold McCree	Ada Barber
	💍 1920/2680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church Sydenham
Folio	194
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

14 January 1920

Reuben Charles Thomas
Mary Park

Reuben Charles Thomas
Mary Park
💍 1920/2682

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand

28
29

Christchurch
Spreydon

4 months
5 years

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

195

14 January 1920

Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

No	43
Date of Notice	14 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Charles Thomas	Mary Park
	💍 1920/2682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	4 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	195
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

15 January 1920

Orton Patrick Burke
Mary Costello

Orton Patrick Burke
Mary Costello
💍 1920/2683

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 months

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

196

15 January 1920

Rev. J. F. O'Connor, R.C.

No	44
Date of Notice	15 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Orton Patrick Burke	Mary Costello
	💍 1920/2683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	196
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. O'Connor, R.C.

15 January 1920

Ralph Shea
Edith Maud Clark

Ralph Shaw
Edith Maud Clark
💍 1920/2684

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

29
37

St. Albans
St. Albans

16 years
5 years

St. Matthew's Church St. Albans

197

15 January 1920

Rev. A. Hore, Anglican

No	45
Date of Notice	15 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Shea	Edith Maud Clark
BDM Match (90%)	Ralph Shaw	Edith Maud Clark
	💍 1920/2684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	29	37
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	16 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church St. Albans
Folio	197
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hore, 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).