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 2700

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

106

31 January 1920

David Robinson
Winifred Nelson

David Robinson
Winifred Nelson
💍 1920/2141

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman

33
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
31 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

249

31 January 1920

Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	106
Date of Notice	31 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Robinson	Winifred Nelson
	💍 1920/2141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	249
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long, Roman Catholic

107

2 February 1920

Jack Victor Hammon
Eileen May Bishop

Jack Victor Hammon
Eileen May Bishop
💍 1920/2770

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Bookbinder

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
22 years

St. Michaels Church Christchurch

250

2 February 1920

Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	107
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Victor Hammon	Eileen May Bishop
	💍 1920/2770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Bookbinder
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church Christchurch
Folio	250
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

108

2 February 1920

Samuel Hodgson
Lizzie Mellor

Samuel Hodgson
Lizzie Mellor
💍 1920/2781

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Clerk

32
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr Hall 87 Barbour St. Linwood

251

2 February 1920

Rev. E. P. Blamires, Methodist

No	108
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Hodgson	Lizzie Mellor
	💍 1920/2781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Clerk
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Hall 87 Barbour St. Linwood
Folio	251
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. P. Blamires, Methodist

109

2 February 1920

Harry Tregonning
Ellen Jane Webb

Harry Tregonning
Ellen Jane Webb
💍 1920/2788

Bachelor
Divorced. Decree absolute dated 19.9.1913

Station Manager

37
39

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
1 year

Registrar's Office Christchurch

252

2 February 1920

Registrar

No	109
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Tregonning	Ellen Jane Webb
	💍 1920/2788
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced. Decree absolute dated 19.9.1913
Profession	Station Manager
Age	37	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	252
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

110

2 February 1920

Arthur Everett Secker
Wilhelmine Lucy Arnold Ferguson

Arthur Everett Secker
Wilhelmina Lucy Arnold Ferguson
💍 1920/2789

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

22
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

Dwelling of Mrs P. Secker 80 Stanmore Rd Linwood

253

2 February 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	110
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Everett Secker	Wilhelmine Lucy Arnold Ferguson
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Everett Secker	Wilhelmina Lucy Arnold Ferguson
	💍 1920/2789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs P. Secker 80 Stanmore Rd Linwood
Folio	253
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 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).