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 2690

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

19 January 1920

Claude Hamson
Isobel Henderson Wilkie

Claude Hamson
Isobel Henderson Wilkie
💍 1920/2717

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
5 weeks

St. Paul's Church Christchurch

207

19 January 1920

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	19 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Hamson	Isobel Henderson Wilkie
	💍 1920/2717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Christchurch
Folio	207
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

19 January 1920

Robert William Johnson
Elizabeth Hamilton Gillanders

Robert William Johnson
Elizabeth Hamilton Gillanders
💍 1920/2718

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Salesman

38
36

Riccarton
Riccarton

1 year
7 years

St. Michael's Church Christchurch

208

19 January 1920

Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

No	57
Date of Notice	19 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Johnson	Elizabeth Hamilton Gillanders
	💍 1920/2718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Salesman
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church Christchurch
Folio	208
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Perry, Anglican

19 January 1920

Frank Percival Smith
Margaret Thomas

Frank Percival Smith
Margaret Thomas
💍 1920/2719

Widower. 3. 7. 1917
Widow. 29. 7. 17

Restaurant Proprietor

46
44

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
2 1/2 years

Registrar's Office Christchurch

209

19 January 1920

Registrar

No	58
Date of Notice	19 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Percival Smith	Margaret Thomas
	💍 1920/2719
Condition	Widower. 3. 7. 1917	Widow. 29. 7. 17
Profession	Restaurant Proprietor
Age	46	44
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Christchurch
Folio	209
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

19 January 1920

Joseph Henry Smith
Catherine Grove

Joseph Henry Smith
Catherine Crowe
💍 1920/2696

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
12 months

Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes St. Christchurch

210

19 January 1920

Rev. J. J. Kennedy, R.C.

No	59
Date of Notice	19 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Smith	Catherine Grove
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Henry Smith	Catherine Crowe
	💍 1920/2696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Barbadoes St. Christchurch
Folio	210
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Kennedy, R.C.

20 January 1920

Clarence Valentine Jones
Alice Eva Querée

Clarence Valentine Jones
Alice Eva Queree
💍 1920/2697

Bachelor
Spinster

Customs Clerk
Tailoress

26
24

Addington
Christchurch

20 years
2 years

Methodist Church Sydenham

211

20 January 1920

Rev. W. Beckett, Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	20 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Valentine Jones	Alice Eva Querée
BDM Match (94%)	Clarence Valentine Jones	Alice Eva Queree
	💍 1920/2697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Customs Clerk	Tailoress
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Addington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Sydenham
Folio	211
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett, 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).