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 2765

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

425

13 April 1920

Owen Jones
Annie Florence Wilby

Owen Jones
Annie Florence Wilby
💍 1920/4127

Bachelor
Spinster

Wireless Operator

33
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 months
10 months

Baptist Church, Linwood

3653

13 April 1920

Rev. E. E. Smith, Baptist

No	425
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Jones	Annie Florence Wilby
	💍 1920/4127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wireless Operator
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Linwood
Folio	3653
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Smith, Baptist

426

13 April 1920

Keith Campbell
Olive Lillian Rosa Taylor

Keith Campbell
Olive Lillian Rosa Taylor
💍 1920/5839

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
23

Christchurch
Papanui

3 days
6 weeks

Methodist Church, Papanui

3654

13 April 1920

Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

No	426
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith Campbell	Olive Lillian Rosa Taylor
	💍 1920/5839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Papanui
Folio	3654
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

427

13 April 1920

Ernest Harold Collins
Winefride Hannah Mary Davids

Ernest Harold Collins
Winefride Hannah Mary Sands
💍 1920/5850

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

22
17

Linwood
Linwood

5 months
13 years

St. Peter's Church, Woolston

3655

Jessie Davids, Mother

13 April 1920

Rev. W. Tanner, Presbyterian

No	427
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Harold Collins	Winefride Hannah Mary Davids
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Harold Collins	Winefride Hannah Mary Sands
	💍 1920/5850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	5 months	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Woolston
Folio	3655
Consent	Jessie Davids, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tanner, Presbyterian

428

13 April 1920

Tom Archer Bray
Margaret Phillips

Tom Arthur Bray
Margaret Phillips
💍 1920/5857

Widower, 29 April 1912
Divorced decree absolute dated 10.5.1915

Farmer

65
33

Hillsborough
Hillsborough

20 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3656

13 April 1920

Registrar

No	428
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Archer Bray	Margaret Phillips
BDM Match (93%)	Tom Arthur Bray	Margaret Phillips
	💍 1920/5857
Condition	Widower, 29 April 1912	Divorced decree absolute dated 10.5.1915
Profession	Farmer
Age	65	33
Dwelling Place	Hillsborough	Hillsborough
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3656
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

429

13 April 1920

John Henry Gilmour
Catherine Gertrude Shaw

John Henry Gilmour
Catherine Gertrude Shaw
💍 1920/5858

Bachelor
Spinster

Garage Proprietor
Typiste

29
22

New Brighton
Christchurch

25 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

3657

13 April 1920

Rev. J. Stewart, Roman Catholic

No	429
Date of Notice	13 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Gilmour	Catherine Gertrude Shaw
	💍 1920/5858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Garage Proprietor	Typiste
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	3657
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Stewart, Roman Catholic

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).