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 2894

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

1041

14 October 1920

James Major
Evelyn Jane Robinson

James Major
Evelyn Jane Robinson
💍 1920/10110

Widower
Spinster

Cordial Manufacturer

46
31

Christchurch
St. Albans

5 years
20 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

9326

14 October 1920

J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1041
Date of Notice	14 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Major	Evelyn Jane Robinson
	💍 1920/10110
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Manufacturer
Age	46	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	9326
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1920
Officiating Minister	J. Paterson, Presbyterian

1042

14 October 1920

Hugh Williamson Gillespie
Christina Jane Murch

Hugh Williamson Gillespie
Christina Jane Murch
💍 1920/10127

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
23

Spreydon
Sydenham, Christchurch

10 years
5 years

St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch

9328

14 October 1920

B. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	1042
Date of Notice	14 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Williamson Gillespie	Christina Jane Murch
	💍 1920/10127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Sydenham, Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	9328
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1920
Officiating Minister	B. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

1043

14 October 1920

Herbert Alfred O'Neill
Maggie Gorman

Herbert Alfred O'Neill
Maggie Gorman
💍 1920/10128

Bachelor
Widow

Engine-Smith

37
32

Woolston
Woolston, Linwood

37 years
10 years

Congregational Church, Linwood

9329

14 October 1920

C. L. Carr, Congregationalist

No	1043
Date of Notice	14 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Alfred O'Neill	Maggie Gorman
	💍 1920/10128
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engine-Smith
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston, Linwood
Length of Residence	37 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Linwood
Folio	9329
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1920
Officiating Minister	C. L. Carr, Congregationalist

1044

14 October 1920

Walter James Faulkner
Dorothy Helen Baunton

Walter Tainui Faulkner
Dorothy Helen Baunton
💍 1920/10129

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

28
23

Sydenham
Opawa

28 years
23 years

St. Mark's Church, Opawa

9330

14 October 1920

H. Williams, Anglican

No	1044
Date of Notice	14 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Faulkner	Dorothy Helen Baunton
BDM Match (89%)	Walter Tainui Faulkner	Dorothy Helen Baunton
	💍 1920/10129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Opawa
Length of Residence	28 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Opawa
Folio	9330
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1920
Officiating Minister	H. Williams, Anglican

1045

15 October 1920

Sidney Bell Marshall
Margaret Ella Taylor

Sidney Bell Marshall
Margaret Ellen Taylor
💍 1920/10130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
35

Doyleston
Doyleston, Christchurch

4 years
8 months

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

9331

15 October 1920

F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	1045
Date of Notice	15 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Bell Marshall	Margaret Ella Taylor
BDM Match (95%)	Sidney Bell Marshall	Margaret Ellen Taylor
	💍 1920/10130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	35
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Doyleston, Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	9331
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1920
Officiating Minister	F. N. Taylor, Anglican

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).