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 2796

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

570

19 May 1920

Stanley Hook
Mary Hartigan

Stanley Hook
Mary Hartigan
💍 1920/292

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat Inspector

30
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
11 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Presbytery, Christchurch

3793

19 May 1920

Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	570
Date of Notice	19 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Hook	Mary Hartigan
	💍 1920/292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat Inspector
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Presbytery, Christchurch
Folio	3793
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

571

19 May 1920

David Harry Brown
Ada Christina Rountree

David Harry Brown
Ada Christina Rountree
💍 1920/293

Widower, 24 May 1915
Spinster

Railway Employee

32
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 months
10 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3794

19 May 1920

Registrar

No	571
Date of Notice	19 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Harry Brown	Ada Christina Rountree
	💍 1920/293
Condition	Widower, 24 May 1915	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3794
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

572

20 May 1920

Jonathan Ward
Eliza Jane McIlrath

Jonathan Ward
Eliza Jane McIlrath
💍 1920/294

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

46
44

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Knox Church Manse, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

3795

20 May 1920

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	572
Date of Notice	20 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Ward	Eliza Jane McIlrath
	💍 1920/294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	46	44
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church Manse, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	3795
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

573

20 May 1920

Arthur Heney
Violet Osborne

Arthur Henry
Violet Osborne
💍 1920/295

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
32

Christchurch
St. Albans

3 months
4 months

Knox Church Manse, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

3796

20 May 1920

Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	573
Date of Notice	20 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Heney	Violet Osborne
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Henry	Violet Osborne
	💍 1920/295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Knox Church Manse, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	3796
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

574

20 May 1920

Harry Taylor
Clara Ann Woods

Harry Taylor
Clara Ann Woods
💍 1920/296

Bachelor
Widow, 31 May 1915

Storekeeper
Dressmaker

37
37

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
4 weeks

Residence of Mr. Ormandy, 105, Barbour Street, Linwood

3797

20 May 1920

Mr. G. Woolnough, Church of Christ

No	574
Date of Notice	20 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Taylor	Clara Ann Woods
	💍 1920/296
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 31 May 1915
Profession	Storekeeper	Dressmaker
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Ormandy, 105, Barbour Street, Linwood
Folio	3797
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. Woolnough, Church of Christ

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).