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 2654

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar C. W. Bourne

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

26 March 1920

Edmund George Body
Flora Ann Letitia Stoddart

Edmund George Body
Flora Ann Letitia Stoddart
💍 1920/5335

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
25

Wheatstone
Willowby

31 years
24 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

2718

26 March 1920

Rev H. B. Jones, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	26 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund George Body	Flora Ann Letitia Stoddart
	💍 1920/5335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Wheatstone	Willowby
Length of Residence	31 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	2718
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Jones, Church of England

26 March 1920

James Frederick Langley
Ellen Daly

James Frederick Langley
Ellen Daily
💍 1920/5336

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
26

Rakaia
Winchmore

14 years
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

2719

26 March 1920

Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	26 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Frederick Langley	Ellen Daly
BDM Match (95%)	James Frederick Langley	Ellen Daily
	💍 1920/5336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Rakaia	Winchmore
Length of Residence	14 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	2719
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

27 March 1920

George Wellesley Spencer
Mary Bruce Bell

George Wellesley Spencer
Mary Bruce Bell
💍 1920/5337

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
39

Mayfield
Ashburton

17 years
18 years

at the dwelling of Robert Bell, 81 Wills Street, Ashburton

2720

27 March 1920

Rev. H. G. Goring, Baptist

No	28
Date of Notice	27 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wellesley Spencer	Mary Bruce Bell
	💍 1920/5337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	39
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Ashburton
Length of Residence	17 years	18 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Robert Bell, 81 Wills Street, Ashburton
Folio	2720
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Goring, Baptist

29 March 1920

Charles Timothy Brien
Christina Sarah McCormack

Charles Timothy OBrien
Christina Sarah McCormick
💍 1920/5338

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
26 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

2721

29 March 1920

Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	29 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Timothy Brien	Christina Sarah McCormack
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Timothy OBrien	Christina Sarah McCormick
	💍 1920/5338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	2721
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

30 March 1920

Elliott Pollard Stock
Elsie Topping

Elliott Collard Stock
Elsie Topping
💍 1920/5339

Bachelor
Spinster

Freezer
Shop Assistant

56
36

Ashburton
Ashburton

24 years
36 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2722

30 March 1920

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	30 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elliott Pollard Stock	Elsie Topping
BDM Match (98%)	Elliott Collard Stock	Elsie Topping
	💍 1920/5339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Freezer	Shop Assistant
Age	56	36
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	24 years	36 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2722
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

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).