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 2694

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

23 January 1920

Anthony Thomas Fuller
Effie Lucy Dixon

Anthony Thomas Fuller
Effie Lucy Dixon
💍 1920/3928

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
20

St. Albans
Hornby

4 years
6 years

St. Columba's Church, Hornby

3183

Robt. Dixon, Father

23 January 1920

Rev. E. Webb, Anglican

No	76
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Thomas Fuller	Effie Lucy Dixon
	💍 1920/3928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Hornby
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Columba's Church, Hornby
Folio	3183
Consent	Robt. Dixon, Father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Webb, Anglican

23 January 1920

Robert Beattie
Lillian Ivy Blackmore

Robert Beattie
Lillian Ivy Blackmore
💍 1920/2712

Widower 30.7.1919
Widow 26.5.1917

Shepherd

37
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
6 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

225

23 January 1920

Registrar

No	77
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Beattie	Lillian Ivy Blackmore
	💍 1920/2712
Condition	Widower 30.7.1919	Widow 26.5.1917
Profession	Shepherd
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	225
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

23 January 1920

William Alexander Skinner
Hannah Maud Aveline Bowden

William Alexander Skinner
Hannah Maud Aveline Bowden
💍 1920/3929

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

30
31

Opawa
Christchurch

20 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

3184

23 January 1920

Rev. S. Bonetto, R. C.

No	78
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Skinner	Hannah Maud Aveline Bowden
	💍 1920/3929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	3184
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Bonetto, R. C.

23 January 1920

Leonard Henry Smith
Barbara Agnes Huston

Leonard Henry Smith
Barbara Agnes Huston
💍 1920/5548

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockman
Dressmaker

30
28

Belfast
Belfast

12 years
28 years

St. David's Church, Belfast

3259

23 January 1920

Rev. T. M. Curnow, Anglican

No	79
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Henry Smith	Barbara Agnes Huston
	💍 1920/5548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockman	Dressmaker
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Belfast	Belfast
Length of Residence	12 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Belfast
Folio	3259
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. M. Curnow, Anglican

23 January 1920

Charles Treweska Hand Newton
Alice Mary Spooner

Charles Treweeke Hand Newton
Alice Mary Spooner
💍 1920/2124

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

36
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

life
20 years

St Mary's Church, Merivale

226

23 January 1920

Rev. P. B. Haggitt, Anglican

No	80
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Treweska Hand Newton	Alice Mary Spooner
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Treweeke Hand Newton	Alice Mary Spooner
	💍 1920/2124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	life	20 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	226
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. B. Haggitt, 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).