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 2862

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar H. Bell

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

892

31 August 1920

John Frederick Warren
Mabel Muriel Baunton

John Frederick Warren
Mabel Muriel Baunton
💍 1920/7898

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Car Upholsterer

25
22

Christchurch
Opawa

10 years
Life

St. Mark's Church Opawa

7435

31 August 1920

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	892
Date of Notice	31 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Warren	Mabel Muriel Baunton
	💍 1920/7898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Car Upholsterer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Opawa
Folio	7435
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

893

31 August 1920

Leonard Herbert Duggan
Victoria Comfort White

Leonard Herbert Duggan
Victoria Comfort White
💍 1920/7876

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
23

Christchurch
St. Albans

12 years
9 years

St. Luke's Church Christchurch

7436

31 August 1920

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	893
Date of Notice	31 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Herbert Duggan	Victoria Comfort White
	💍 1920/7876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	12 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	7436
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

894

31 August 1920

William Rose
Isabel Ina Douglas Pointon

William Ross
Isabel Ina Douglas Pointon
💍 1920/7877

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

34
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
Life

Residence of Mrs S. Pointon, 122 Antigua St. Christchurch

7437

31 August 1920

Rev. J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	894
Date of Notice	31 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rose	Isabel Ina Douglas Pointon
BDM Match (96%)	William Ross	Isabel Ina Douglas Pointon
	💍 1920/7877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs S. Pointon, 122 Antigua St. Christchurch
Folio	7437
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

895

31 August 1920

Francis Blessed Knubley
Kathleen Cooper Chapman

Francis Clissold Knubley
Kathleen Cooper Chapman
💍 1920/7878

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

43
34

Shirley
Shirley

3 days
3 years

Holy Trinity Church Avonside

7438

31 August 1920

Rev. O. FitzGerald, Anglican

No	895
Date of Notice	31 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Blessed Knubley	Kathleen Cooper Chapman
BDM Match (92%)	Francis Clissold Knubley	Kathleen Cooper Chapman
	💍 1920/7878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	34
Dwelling Place	Shirley	Shirley
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Avonside
Folio	7438
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. FitzGerald, Anglican

896

31 August 1920

Jack Clarke Muir
Olive Rozena Prisk

Jack Clarke Muir
Olive Rosena Prisk
💍 1920/7879

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

23
25

Papanui
Papanui

4 months
4 months

Residence of Mr W. T. Prisk, Greens Rd. Papanui

7439

31 August 1920

Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

No	896
Date of Notice	31 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Clarke Muir	Olive Rozena Prisk
BDM Match (97%)	Jack Clarke Muir	Olive Rosena Prisk
	💍 1920/7879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. T. Prisk, Greens Rd. Papanui
Folio	7439
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Joughin, Methodist

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).