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 2851

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 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

838

11 August 1920

Charles Bremble Hawes
Gertrude Emily Eva Simpson

Charles Bremble Hawes
Gertrude Emily Eva Simpson
💍 1920/7604

Bachelor
Spinster

Paperhanger

36
30

St. Albans.
St. Albans.

10 years
9 years

St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans.

7382

11 August 1920

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican.

No	838
Date of Notice	11 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bremble Hawes	Gertrude Emily Eva Simpson
	💍 1920/7604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Paperhanger
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	St. Albans.	St. Albans.
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans.
Folio	7382
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican.

839

12 August 1920

George Vincent Gerard
Elizabeth Mary Buckley

George Vincent Gerard
Elizabeth Mary Buckley
💍 1920/7605

Bachelor
Spinster

Student

21
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
19 years

St. Barnabas' Church, Fendalton.

7383

Phoebe Graham Buckley (mother)

12 August 1920

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican.

No	839
Date of Notice	12 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Vincent Gerard	Elizabeth Mary Buckley
	💍 1920/7605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Student
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas' Church, Fendalton.
Folio	7383
Consent	Phoebe Graham Buckley (mother)
Date of Certificate	12 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican.

840

13 August 1920

Thomas Moynihan
Doris McRae

Thomas Moynihan
Doris McRae
💍 1920/7582

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
10 days

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch.

7384

13 August 1920

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	840
Date of Notice	13 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Moynihan	Doris McRae
	💍 1920/7582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch.
Folio	7384
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

841

13 August 1920

Thomas Smith Grose
Florence Goodman

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
22

New Brighton
Christchurch

9 years
3 weeks

St. Mary's Church, Merivale.

13 August 1920

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican.

No	841
Date of Notice	13 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Smith Grose	Florence Goodman
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale.
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican.

842

13 August 1920

Edward Albert Mawer
Jane Ellen Patton

Edward Albert Mawer
Jane Ellen Patton
💍 1920/7594

Bachelor
Widow, March 24, 1900

Road Foreman

49
47

Christchurch
Linwood

2 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs. Patton, 61 Essex Street, Linwood.

13 August 1920

Rev. J. Tennent, Presbyterian.

No	842
Date of Notice	13 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Albert Mawer	Jane Ellen Patton
	💍 1920/7594
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, March 24, 1900
Profession	Road Foreman
Age	49	47
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Patton, 61 Essex Street, Linwood.
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tennent, 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).