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 2774

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

470

21 April 1920

Herbert Victor Tregoning
Margaret Mary Josephine Shiels

Herbert Victor Tregoning
Margaret Mary Josephine Shiels
💍 1920/5723

Bachelor
Spinster

Attendant

33
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
2 weeks

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Spencer St. Addington

3695

21 April 1920

Rev. E. Anderson, Roman Catholic

No	470
Date of Notice	21 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Victor Tregoning	Margaret Mary Josephine Shiels
	💍 1920/5723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Attendant
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Spencer St. Addington
Folio	3695
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Anderson, Roman Catholic

471

21 April 1920

Charles Entwistle
Jessie Margaret Paton

Charles Entwistle
Jessie Margaret Paton
💍 1920/5724

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
23

Hornby
Riccarton

1 year
2 weeks

St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch

3696

21 April 1920

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	471
Date of Notice	21 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Entwistle	Jessie Margaret Paton
	💍 1920/5724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Hornby	Riccarton
Length of Residence	1 year	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3696
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

472

22 April 1920

Martin Lewis Higgins
Ivena May Clothier

Martin Lewis Higgins
Iveria May Clothier
💍 1920/5725

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Tailoress

32
28

St. Albans
Woolston

5 years
1 year

St. Michael's Church, Christchurch

3697

22 April 1920

Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	472
Date of Notice	22 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Lewis Higgins	Ivena May Clothier
BDM Match (95%)	Martin Lewis Higgins	Iveria May Clothier
	💍 1920/5725
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Tailoress
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Woolston
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3697
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

473

22 April 1920

Frederick William Pullan
Ivy Eva Evelyn Offwood

Frederick William Pullan
Ivy Eva Evelyn Offwood
💍 1920/5727

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Tailoress

25
21

Linwood
Islington

15 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3698

22 April 1920

Registrar

No	473
Date of Notice	22 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Pullan	Ivy Eva Evelyn Offwood
	💍 1920/5727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Tailoress
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Islington
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3698
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

474

22 April 1920

Victor Tolchard
Fanny Overend

Victor Tolchard
Fanny Averend
💍 1920/5728

Bachelor
Widow, 3. 8. 1915

Driver

25
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
2 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

3699

22 April 1920

Rev. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	474
Date of Notice	22 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Tolchard	Fanny Overend
BDM Match (96%)	Victor Tolchard	Fanny Averend
	💍 1920/5728
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 3. 8. 1915
Profession	Driver
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3699
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Paterson, Presbyterian

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).