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 2704

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

126

5 February 1920

Hume Douglas Christie
Janet Wilson

Hume Douglas Christie
Janet Wilson
💍 1920/2782

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Music Teacher

23
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
27 years

Residence of Mr. R. Wilson, 122 St Martins Rd., St Martins

269

5 February 1920

Rev. J. W. Webster, Presbyterian

No	126
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hume Douglas Christie	Janet Wilson
	💍 1920/2782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Music Teacher
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Wilson, 122 St Martins Rd., St Martins
Folio	269
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Webster, Presbyterian

127

6 February 1920

Patrick Gilbert Yorke
Constance Joan Sarah Stone

Patrick Gilbert Forde
Constance Joan Sarah Stone
💍 1920/2786

Bachelor
Spinster

Tyre Merchant

29
28

Christchurch
New Brighton

2 years
1 year

St. Marys Church, Manchester St., Christchurch

273

Rev. C. H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

No	127
Date of Notice	6 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Gilbert Yorke	Constance Joan Sarah Stone
BDM Match (95%)	Patrick Gilbert Forde	Constance Joan Sarah Stone
	💍 1920/2786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tyre Merchant
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	New Brighton
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Manchester St., Christchurch
Folio	273
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

128

6 February 1920

Alexander George Summers
Florence Amelia Whittle

Alexander George Summers
Florence Amelia Whittle
💍 1920/2783

Divorced. Decree absolute dated 4.12.1919
Spinster

Printer

43
39

Sydenham
Papanui

43 years
31 years

Methodist Parsonage, Harper St., Sydenham

270

Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

No	128
Date of Notice	6 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander George Summers	Florence Amelia Whittle
	💍 1920/2783
Condition	Divorced. Decree absolute dated 4.12.1919	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	43	39
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Papanui
Length of Residence	43 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Harper St., Sydenham
Folio	270
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

129

6 February 1920

Harold Edward Wyatt
Olive Mary Hill

Harold Edward Wyatt
Olive Mary Hill
💍 1920/2784

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Waitress

26
24

Christchurch
Spreydon

5 years
24 years

St. Saviours Church, Sydenham

271

Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

No	129
Date of Notice	6 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edward Wyatt	Olive Mary Hill
	💍 1920/2784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Waitress
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church, Sydenham
Folio	271
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

130

7 February 1920

Harry Hamer
Iris Graham Mackworth Hartle

Harry Hamer
Iris Graham Mackworth Hartle
💍 1920/2785

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Typiste

23
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 years
5 years

St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton

272

Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	130
Date of Notice	7 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hamer	Iris Graham Mackworth Hartle
	💍 1920/2785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Typiste
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	272
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach, Anglican

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).