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 2842

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

793

23 July 1920

Aaron Henry Rothenberg
Elizabeth Vera Harris

Aaron Henry Rothenberg
Elizabeth Vera Harris
💍 1920/9272

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

41
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
Life

Jewish Synagogue Christchurch

3283

23 July 1920

Rev. D. Schloss, Hebrew

No	793
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aaron Henry Rothenberg	Elizabeth Vera Harris
	💍 1920/9272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	41	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	Jewish Synagogue Christchurch
Folio	3283
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Schloss, Hebrew

794

24 July 1920

Clement Cecil Brand
Constance Minnie Gosling

Clement Cecil Brand
Constance Minnie Gosling
💍 1920/6087

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Governess

30
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

7340

24 July 1920

Rev. C. G. Perry, Anglican

No	794
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement Cecil Brand	Constance Minnie Gosling
	💍 1920/6087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Governess
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7340
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. G. Perry, Anglican

795

24 July 1920

Stanley Herbert Trevor-Smith
Louisa May Hatherley

Stanley Herbert Trevor-Smith
Louisa May Hatherley
💍 1920/6088

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

25
24

North New Brighton
North New Brighton

14 years
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7341

24 July 1920

Registrar

No	795
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Herbert Trevor-Smith	Louisa May Hatherley
	💍 1920/6088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	North New Brighton	North New Brighton
Length of Residence	14 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7341
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

796

24 July 1920

Hubert Stanton
Emily Fowler

Hubert Stanton
Emily Fowler
💍 1920/6089

Bachelor
Widow (22 June 1916)

Blacksmith

35
40

Christchurch
Woolston

3 months
Life

Residence of Mrs. Fowler, 14 Dampier Street, Woolston

7342

24 July 1920

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	796
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Stanton	Emily Fowler
	💍 1920/6089
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (22 June 1916)
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	35	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Woolston
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Fowler, 14 Dampier Street, Woolston
Folio	7342
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

797

26 July 1920

Reginald Pearcy (Surname changed by Deed Poll from Oppenheim)
Edna Jean Ensor

Reginald Pearcy
Edna Jean Ensor
💍 1920/6090

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School-teacher

31
30

Christchurch
Hororata

3 days
8 months

Church of England, Phillipstown

7343

Hororata (District of other party)

26 July 1920

Rev. H. S. Ensor, Anglican

No	797
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Pearcy (Surname changed by Deed Poll from Oppenheim)	Edna Jean Ensor
BDM Match (62%)	Reginald Pearcy	Edna Jean Ensor
	💍 1920/6090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School-teacher
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Hororata
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Phillipstown
Folio	7343
Consent	Hororata (District of other party)
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Ensor, 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).