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 2706

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

136

10 February 1920

Robert Diebert
Eveline Reader

Robert Diebert
Eveline Reader
💍 1920/2739

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

30
24

Sydenham
Sydenham

12 months
24 years

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

278

10 February 1920

Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

No	136
Date of Notice	10 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Diebert	Eveline Reader
	💍 1920/2739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	12 months	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	278
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Hughes, Anglican

137

10 February 1920

Cyril Alexander Stringer
Eileen Hillier Green

Cyril Alexander Stringer
Eileen Hillier Green
💍 1920/2740

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

36
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

36 years
20 years

St Mary's Church, Merivale

279

Julia F. Green, Mother (widow)

10 February 1920

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	137
Date of Notice	10 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Alexander Stringer	Eileen Hillier Green
	💍 1920/2740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	36 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	279
Consent	Julia F. Green, Mother (widow)
Date of Certificate	10 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

138

10 February 1920

Stanley Edward Priestnall
Grace Mary Bowman

Stanley Edward Priestnall
Grace Mary Bowman
💍 1920/2741

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Clerk

25
20

New Brighton
Upper Riccarton

6 months
20 years

St Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton

280

John H. Bowman, Father

10 February 1920

Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

No	138
Date of Notice	10 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Edward Priestnall	Grace Mary Bowman
	💍 1920/2741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Clerk
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Upper Riccarton
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton
Folio	280
Consent	John H. Bowman, Father
Date of Certificate	10 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. York, Anglican

139

10 February 1920

George Pringle Williamson
Nellie Haines

George Pringle Williamson
Nellie Haines
💍 1920/2742

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

29
27

Riccarton
Riccarton

6 months
2 years

St Paul's Church, Christchurch

281

10 February 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	139
Date of Notice	10 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pringle Williamson	Nellie Haines
	💍 1920/2742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	281
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

140

10 February 1920

Leonard Richard Dulieu (DULIEU)
Clara Dulcie Newman

Leonard Richard Dulien
Clara Dulcie Newman
💍 1920/2743

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator
Typiste

27
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

16 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Edgeware Rd, St Albans

282

10 February 1920

Rev. J. Dennis, Methodist

No	140
Date of Notice	10 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Richard Dulieu (DULIEU)	Clara Dulcie Newman
BDM Match (84%)	Leonard Richard Dulien	Clara Dulcie Newman
	💍 1920/2743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator	Typiste
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Edgeware Rd, St Albans
Folio	282
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dennis, Methodist

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).