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 2697

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

27 January 1920

Alexander Neil Grant
Gerda May Kerr

Alexander Neil Grant
Gerda May Kerr
💍 1920/2127

Bachelor
Spinster

Optical Mechanic
Shorthand Typiste

28
24

Addington
Christchurch

2 years
14 months

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

236

27 January 1920

Rev. F. Rule, Presbyterian

No	91
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Neil Grant	Gerda May Kerr
	💍 1920/2127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Optical Mechanic	Shorthand Typiste
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Addington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	14 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	236
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Rule, Presbyterian

27 January 1920

Wilfrid Peters
Edith Lydia Gough

Wilfrid Peers
Edith Lydia Gough
💍 1920/2128

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

25
30

Sumner
Christchurch

9 months
7 years

Residence of Mr. C. D. Gough 34 Stratford Dr Fendalton

237

27 January 1920

Rev. O. MacHattie, Baptist

No	92
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfrid Peters	Edith Lydia Gough
BDM Match (96%)	Wilfrid Peers	Edith Lydia Gough
	💍 1920/2128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. D. Gough 34 Stratford Dr Fendalton
Folio	237
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. MacHattie, Baptist

27 January 1920

George Hobbs
Evelyn Heyder

George Hobbs
Evelyn Heyder
💍 1920/2129

Bachelor
Spinster

Aerated Water Worker
Tailoress

32
21

Linwood
Linwood

15 years
3 years

Church of The Good Shepherd Phillipstown

238

27 January 1920

Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	93
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hobbs	Evelyn Heyder
	💍 1920/2129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Aerated Water Worker	Tailoress
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of The Good Shepherd Phillipstown
Folio	238
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fraer, Anglican

27 January 1920

Alexander Grant McAlpine
Thelma Doris McCausland

Alexander Grant McAlpine
Thelma Doris McCausland
💍 1920/3930

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Clerk

21
20

Riccarton
Christchurch

3 years
14 years

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

3185

Florence F. McCausland, Mother

27 January 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	94
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Grant McAlpine	Thelma Doris McCausland
	💍 1920/3930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Clerk
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	3185
Consent	Florence F. McCausland, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

27 January 1920

Phillip Ford Lloyd
Marguerite Agnes Burgess

Phillip Ford Lloyd
Marguerite Agnes Burgess
💍 1920/2130

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

22
18

Riccarton
Riccarton

1 1/2 years
3 days

St. Andrew's Church Christchurch

239

Wm. Burgess, Father

27 January 1920

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	95
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillip Ford Lloyd	Marguerite Agnes Burgess
	💍 1920/2130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Christchurch
Folio	239
Consent	Wm. Burgess, Father
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

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).