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 2843

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

798

26 July 1920

Leo Cecil Rothschild
Elsie Leah Mandel

Leo Cecil Rothschild
Elsie Leah Mandel
💍 1920/9250

Bachelor
Spinster

Wholesale Jeweller

31
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
3 years

The Synagogue, Christchurch

9284

26 July 1920

Rev. D. Schloss, Hebrew

No	798
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Cecil Rothschild	Elsie Leah Mandel
	💍 1920/9250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wholesale Jeweller
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	The Synagogue, Christchurch
Folio	9284
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Schloss, Hebrew

799

26 July 1920

Samuel Gilmour
Sara Jane Condy

Samuel Gilmour
Sara Jane Condy
💍 1920/6091

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Shop Assistant

44
34

Linwood
Linwood

7 years
6 years

St. Peter's Presbyterian Manse, Woolston

7344

26 July 1920

Rev. W. Tanner, Presbyterian

No	799
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gilmour	Sara Jane Condy
	💍 1920/6091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Shop Assistant
Age	44	34
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Presbyterian Manse, Woolston
Folio	7344
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tanner, Presbyterian

800

26 July 1920

William Cummins
Jean Campbell

William Cummins
Jean Campbell
💍 1920/6093

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

35
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

18 years
6 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

7345

26 July 1920

Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

No	800
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cummins	Jean Campbell
	💍 1920/6093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	7345
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

801

26 July 1920

Albert Townshend George
Kathleen May Hood

Albert Townshend George
Kathlene May Hood
💍 1920/6094

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Car Painter

23
24

Waltham
New Brighton

17 years
24 years

St. Mark's Church, Opawa

7346

26 July 1920

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	801
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Townshend George	Kathleen May Hood
BDM Match (94%)	Albert Townshend George	Kathlene May Hood
	💍 1920/6094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Car Painter
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Waltham	New Brighton
Length of Residence	17 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Opawa
Folio	7346
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

802

26 July 1920

Henry George Rogers (1st Married name Cook)
Dulcie Gladys Rogers

Henry George Eggers
Dulcies Gladys Rogers
💍 1920/6095

Bachelor
Divorced. Decree Absolute dated August 25, 1919.

Driver
Housekeeper

34
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7347

26 July 1920

Registrar

No	802
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Rogers (1st Married name Cook)	Dulcie Gladys Rogers
BDM Match (67%)	Henry George Eggers	Dulcies Gladys Rogers
	💍 1920/6095
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced. Decree Absolute dated August 25, 1919.
Profession	Driver	Housekeeper
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7347
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).