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 2684

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

10 January 1920

Charles Henry Webb
Doris Aimee Leonie Mills

Charles Henry Webb
Doris Aimee Leonie Millar
💍 1920/2690

Widower 25 May 1917
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Accountant

34
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
21 years

St Mary's Church Addington

180

10 January 1920

Rev. W. D. Bean, Anglican

No	26
Date of Notice	10 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Webb	Doris Aimee Leonie Mills
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Henry Webb	Doris Aimee Leonie Millar
	💍 1920/2690
Condition	Widower 25 May 1917	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Accountant
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Addington
Folio	180
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. D. Bean, Anglican

12 January 1920

William MacDonald Fraser
Beatrice Emmeline Stevenson

William MacDonald Fraser
Beatrice Emmeline Stevenson
💍 1920/2691

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

34
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 months
5 months

St Paul's Church Christchurch

181

12 January 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William MacDonald Fraser	Beatrice Emmeline Stevenson
	💍 1920/2691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	181
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

12 January 1920

Albert George Grant
Violet Emily Dummers

Albert George Grant
Violet Emily Summers
💍 1920/2692

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Saleswoman

22
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 days
23 years

St Luke's Church Christchurch

182

12 January 1920

Rev. C. W. Carrington, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Grant	Violet Emily Dummers
BDM Match (98%)	Albert George Grant	Violet Emily Summers
	💍 1920/2692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church Christchurch
Folio	182
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Carrington, Anglican

12 January 1920

Douglas Leslie McKay
Maude Theresa Parker

Douglas Leslie McKay
Maude Theresa Parker
💍 1920/5342

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Clerk

28
32

Christchurch
Leeston

3 months
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Leeston

2724

12 January 1920

Rev. T. Creed, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Leslie McKay	Maude Theresa Parker
	💍 1920/5342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Clerk
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Leeston
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Leeston
Folio	2724
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Creed, Roman Catholic

12 January 1920

Michael Hodgins
Mary Teresa Collins

Michael Hodgins
Mary Teresa Collins
💍 1920/2693

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

34
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
6 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

183

12 January 1920

Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Hodgins	Mary Teresa Collins
	💍 1920/2693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	183
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

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).