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 2652

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar [illegible]

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

15 March 1920

Thomas Henry Lawrence Cross
Annie Margaret Ford

Thomas Henry Lawrence Cross
Annie Margaret Ford
💍 1920/5349

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

59
25

Lowcliffe
Lowcliffe

9 years
14 years

Methodist Church Lowcliffe

2708

15 March 1920

Rev Samuel Bailey Methodist

No	16
Date of Notice	15 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Lawrence Cross	Annie Margaret Ford
	💍 1920/5349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	59	25
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Lowcliffe
Length of Residence	9 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Lowcliffe
Folio	2708
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Samuel Bailey Methodist

15 March 1920

Charles Henry Wilson
Isabella McGowan Drummond

Charles Henry Wilson
Isabella McEwan Drummond
💍 1920/5350

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
domestic duties

23
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 Weeks
3 days

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

2709

15 March 1920

Rev. George Miller Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	15 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Wilson	Isabella McGowan Drummond
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Henry Wilson	Isabella McEwan Drummond
	💍 1920/5350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 Weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	2709
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller Presbyterian

17 March 1920

Harry Miles
Louisa Elizabeth Sarah Tait

Harry Miles
Louisa Elizabeth Sarah Tait
💍 1920/5351

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

25
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
24 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

2710

17 March 1920

Rev. J. F. Wiseman Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	17 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Miles	Louisa Elizabeth Sarah Tait
	💍 1920/5351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	2710
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman Church of England

17 March 1920

Graham Johns
Lillian Catherine Donn

Graham Johns
Lillian Catherine Donn
💍 1920/5352

Widower 4-12-18
Spinster

Plumber
domestic duties

31
23

Ashburton
Hampstead

25 years
23 years

Baptist Church Ashburton

2711

17 March 1920

Rev. C. S. Matthews Baptist

No	19
Date of Notice	17 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Johns	Lillian Catherine Donn
	💍 1920/5352
Condition	Widower 4-12-18	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	domestic duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Ashburton
Folio	2711
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Matthews Baptist

17 March 1920

Leonard Seabrooke Hopkins
Doreen Minnie Edna Moore

Leonard Seabrooke Hopkins
Doreen Minnie Edna Moore
💍 1920/5353

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle dealer
domestic duties

26
22

Ashburton
Netherby

26 years
15 years

Methodist Church Ashburton

2712

17 March 1920

Rev T. W. Vealie Methodist

No	20
Date of Notice	17 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Seabrooke Hopkins	Doreen Minnie Edna Moore
	💍 1920/5353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle dealer	domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Netherby
Length of Residence	26 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	2712
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev T. W. Vealie Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).