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 2844

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

803

27 July 1920

Stephen Harvey Eddy
Dora Constance

Stephen Harvey Eddy
Dora Constance
💍 1920/6096

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
11 years

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

7348

27 July 1920

Rev. C. G. Perry, Anglican

No	803
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Harvey Eddy	Dora Constance
	💍 1920/6096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7348
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. G. Perry, Anglican

804

27 July 1920

Frederick Charles Roberts
Hilda Frances Oakey

Frederick Charles Roberts
Hilda Frances Oakey
💍 1920/6097

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

37
39

Sumner
Sumner

2 weeks
39 years

Residence of Mr H. B. Oakey, 21 Chisolm Street, Merivale

7349

27 July 1920

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	804
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Roberts	Hilda Frances Oakey
	💍 1920/6097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	37	39
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Sumner
Length of Residence	2 weeks	39 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H. B. Oakey, 21 Chisolm Street, Merivale
Folio	7349
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

805

27 July 1920

Charles Stanley Appleby
Sarah Agnes Maud Preston

Charles Stanley Appleby
Sarah Agnes Maud Preston
💍 1920/6098

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Postmistress

32
29

Papanui
Papanui

4 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Papanui

7350

27 July 1920

Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

No	805
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stanley Appleby	Sarah Agnes Maud Preston
	💍 1920/6098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Postmistress
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Papanui
Folio	7350
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. D. Rodger, Presbyterian

806

28 July 1920

George Henry Frost
Mildred Clara Edwards

George Henry Frost
Mildred Clara Edwards
💍 1920/6106

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse trainer

26
20

New Brighton
New Brighton

26 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

7351

Manvers Burton Edwards (father)

28 July 1920

Registrar

No	806
Date of Notice	28 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Frost	Mildred Clara Edwards
	💍 1920/6106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse trainer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	New Brighton
Length of Residence	26 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	7351
Consent	Manvers Burton Edwards (father)
Date of Certificate	28 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

807

28 July 1920

Tom Hagard
Mary Elizabeth Burmester

Tom Hazard
Mary Elizabeth Burmester
💍 1920/6117

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Shop Assistant

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

24 years
4 years

St Luke's Church, Christchurch

7352

28 July 1920

Rev. F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	807
Date of Notice	28 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Hagard	Mary Elizabeth Burmester
BDM Match (95%)	Tom Hazard	Mary Elizabeth Burmester
	💍 1920/6117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Shop Assistant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	7352
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).