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 2730

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

256

13 March 1920

Christopher Bainbridge
Vera Isabella McCully

Christopher Bainbridge
Vera Isabella McCully
💍 1920/3920

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Clerk

30
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
4 years

St Paul's Church Christchurch

3197

13 March 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	256
Date of Notice	13 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Bainbridge	Vera Isabella McCully
	💍 1920/3920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Clerk
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	3197
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

257

13 March 1920

Edward Arthur Sewell
Annie Stubbs

Edward Arthur Sewell
Anne Stubbs
💍 1920/2921

Bachelor
Spinster

Cutter
Tailoress

23
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
5 years

Baptist Church Worcester St. Linwood

386

13 March 1920

Rev. E. E. Smith, Baptist

No	257
Date of Notice	13 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Arthur Sewell	Annie Stubbs
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Arthur Sewell	Anne Stubbs
	💍 1920/2921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cutter	Tailoress
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Worcester St. Linwood
Folio	386
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Smith, Baptist

258

15 March 1920

Arnold Edward Pannell
Dorothy Annie Glosson

Arnold Edward Pannell
Dorothy Annie Glasson
💍 1920/2922

Bachelor
Spinster

Grain Buyer

26
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
15 years

St John's Church Christchurch

387

15 March 1920

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	258
Date of Notice	15 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Edward Pannell	Dorothy Annie Glosson
BDM Match (98%)	Arnold Edward Pannell	Dorothy Annie Glasson
	💍 1920/2922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grain Buyer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Christchurch
Folio	387
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

259

15 March 1920

George Augustus Walter Ryan
Gladys Evelyn Whittington

George Augustus Walter Ryan
Gladys Evelyn Whittington
💍 1920/2923

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 months
19 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

388

Ellen E. M. Martin, mother formerly Whittington

15 March 1920

J. Murphy, R.C.

No	259
Date of Notice	15 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Augustus Walter Ryan	Gladys Evelyn Whittington
	💍 1920/2923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	388
Consent	Ellen E. M. Martin, mother formerly Whittington
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	J. Murphy, R.C.

260

15 March 1920

John Harlow
Mary Isabella Miller

John Harlow
Mary Isabella Millar
💍 1920/2924

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

48
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
1 week

St Andrews Church Christchurch

389

15 March 1920

Rev. E. W. Walker, Presbyterian

No	260
Date of Notice	15 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harlow	Mary Isabella Miller
BDM Match (98%)	John Harlow	Mary Isabella Millar
	💍 1920/2924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	48	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	1 week
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Christchurch
Folio	389
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Walker, 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).