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 2718

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

196

24 February 1920

Raymond John Ware
Madelene Elizabeth Bailey

Raymond John Ware
Madeline Elizabeth Bailey
💍 1920/3018

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

25
29

Okains Bay
Christchurch

21 yrs
16 yrs

St. John's Church, Christchurch

334

24 February 1920

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	196
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond John Ware	Madelene Elizabeth Bailey
BDM Match (98%)	Raymond John Ware	Madeline Elizabeth Bailey
	💍 1920/3018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Okains Bay	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 yrs	16 yrs
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	334
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

197

24 February 1920

Leonard Avery Wrenn
Elsie May Woodhall

Leonard Avery Wrenn
Elsie May Woodall
💍 1920/2995

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

31
33

St. Albans
Christchurch

4 months
12 yrs

St. John's Church, Christchurch

335

24 February 1920

Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	197
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Avery Wrenn	Elsie May Woodhall
BDM Match (97%)	Leonard Avery Wrenn	Elsie May Woodall
	💍 1920/2995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	12 yrs
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	335
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cocks, Anglican

198

24 February 1920

Frederic Henry Gobbe
Brenda Dorothy Sutherland

Frederick Henry Gobbe
Brenda Dorothy Sutherland
💍 1920/2996

Widower
Spinster

Picture Operator

35
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 yrs
3 yrs

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

336

Andrew Sutherland, Father.

24 February 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	198
Date of Notice	24 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Henry Gobbe	Brenda Dorothy Sutherland
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Henry Gobbe	Brenda Dorothy Sutherland
	💍 1920/2996
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Picture Operator
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 yrs	3 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	336
Consent	Andrew Sutherland, Father.
Date of Certificate	24 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

199

25 February 1920

William Nicholas Hempstead
Olive Elsie Maud Gibbs

William Nicholas Hempstalk
Olive Elsie Maud Gibbs
💍 1920/2997

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

37
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
4 years

Residence of Rev. J. J. North, 271 Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch

337

25 February 1920

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	199
Date of Notice	25 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Nicholas Hempstead	Olive Elsie Maud Gibbs
BDM Match (94%)	William Nicholas Hempstalk	Olive Elsie Maud Gibbs
	💍 1920/2997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. J. North, 271 Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	337
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

200

25 February 1920

Frank William Wright
Valentine Libeau

Frank William Wright
Valentine Libeau
💍 1920/2998

Widower
Spinster

Publican

54
46

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

338

25 February 1920

Registrar

No	200
Date of Notice	25 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Wright	Valentine Libeau
	💍 1920/2998
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Publican
Age	54	46
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	338
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).