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 2726

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

236

8 March 1920

Horace Victor Turner
Grace Merle Britten

Horace Victor Turner
Grace Merle Britten
💍 1920/2904

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Clerk

27
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 months
4 years

Methodist Church Durham St Christchurch

369

8 March 1920

Rev. N. Turner, Methodist

No	236
Date of Notice	8 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Victor Turner	Grace Merle Britten
	💍 1920/2904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Clerk
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St Christchurch
Folio	369
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Turner, Methodist

237

8 March 1920

Daniel Macdonald Jago Hill
Mary Florence Nash

Daniel Macdonald Jago Hill
Mary Florence Nash
💍 1920/2905

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer

26
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
30 years

St. Mary's Church Addington

370

8 March 1920

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	237
Date of Notice	8 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Macdonald Jago Hill	Mary Florence Nash
	💍 1920/2905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Addington
Folio	370
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

238

8 March 1920

Herbert George Warburton
Theda Beardsell

Herbert George Warburton
Hilda Beardsell
💍 1920/2907

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

25
26

Christchurch
Spreydon

21 years
8 years

Methodist Church Sydenham

371

8 March 1920

Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

No	238
Date of Notice	8 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert George Warburton	Theda Beardsell
BDM Match (90%)	Herbert George Warburton	Hilda Beardsell
	💍 1920/2907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	21 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Sydenham
Folio	371
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

239

9 March 1920

Roy George Goss
Irene Sylvia Fairbairn

Roy George Goss
Irene Sylvia Fairbairn
💍 1920/2908

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

29
21

Kirwee
Kirwee

6 months
21 years

St. John's Church Christchurch

372

9 March 1920

Rev. P. Revell, Anglican

No	239
Date of Notice	9 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy George Goss	Irene Sylvia Fairbairn
	💍 1920/2908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Kirwee	Kirwee
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Christchurch
Folio	372
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Revell, Anglican

240

9 March 1920

William George Weigel
Daisy Isabell Winskill

William George Weigel
Daisy Isabella Winskill
💍 1920/3917

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

23
22

Christchurch
Riccarton

23 years
18 months

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

3195

9 March 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	240
Date of Notice	9 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Weigel	Daisy Isabell Winskill
BDM Match (98%)	William George Weigel	Daisy Isabella Winskill
	💍 1920/3917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	23 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	3195
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. 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).