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 2701

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

111

2 February 1920

Thomas Doling
Gertrude Mary Donaughey

Thomas Doling
Gertrude Mary Donaughey
💍 1920/2790

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Machinist

30
27

Papanui
Papanui

6 months
6 months

St. Mary's Church, Manchester St, Christchurch

254

2 February 1920

Rev. P. Regnault, R.C.

No	111
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Doling	Gertrude Mary Donaughey
	💍 1920/2790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Machinist
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester St, Christchurch
Folio	254
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault, R.C.

112

2 February 1920

Patrick Joseph Dee
Johanna Noonan

Patrick Joseph Dee
Johanna Noonan
💍 1920/2791

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

34
29

Riccarton
Riccarton

6 months
2 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

255

2 February 1920

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, R.C.

No	112
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Dee	Johanna Noonan
	💍 1920/2791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	255
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, R.C.

113

2 February 1920

Arthur Arnold Harris
Caroline Jane Rogers

Arthur Arnold Harris
Caroline Jane Rogers
💍 1920/2792

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor

39
21

Linwood
Halswell

10 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

256

2 February 1920

Registrar

No	113
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Arnold Harris	Caroline Jane Rogers
	💍 1920/2792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor
Age	39	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Halswell
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	256
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

114

2 February 1920

Henry Angiolo Bourne commonly known as Webb
Maude Ellen Gulliver

Henry Angiolo Webb
Maude Ellen Gullick
💍 1920/2793

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Machinist

32
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 1/2 years
21 years

Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch

257

2 February 1920

Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

No	114
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Angiolo Bourne commonly known as Webb	Maude Ellen Gulliver
BDM Match (63%)	Henry Angiolo Webb	Maude Ellen Gullick
	💍 1920/2793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Machinist
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch
Folio	257
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

115

2 February 1920

Archibald Bollington
Mabel Rowena Robertson

Archibald Bollington
Mabel Rowena Robertson
💍 1920/2794

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Machinist

35
37

Waltham
Waltham

4 years
3 years

Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch

258

2 February 1920

Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

No	115
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Bollington	Mabel Rowena Robertson
	💍 1920/2794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	35	37
Dwelling Place	Waltham	Waltham
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St., Christchurch
Folio	258
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight, Methodist

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).