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 2510

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar S. Tyson

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

13 March 1920

Charles Thomas Ferguson
Margaret Amelia Slims

Charles Thomas Ferguson
Margaret Amelia Climo
💍 1920/3823

Widower 11th December 1919
Spinster

Hotel keeper
Domestic duties

34
27

Nelson
Nelson

6 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

2644

15 March 1920

Rev. R. Fay, Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	13 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Ferguson	Margaret Amelia Slims
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Thomas Ferguson	Margaret Amelia Climo
	💍 1920/3823
Condition	Widower 11th December 1919	Spinster
Profession	Hotel keeper	Domestic duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	2644
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fay, Catholic

16 March 1920

Henri William Flower
Evelyn May Barnes

Hemi William Flower
Evelyn May Barnes
💍 1920/3825

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

26
22

Wakapuaka, Nelson
Wakapuaka, Nelson

26 years
6 years

Saint Peters Church, Wakapuaka

2645

16 March 1920

Rev. F. J. Ferry, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	16 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henri William Flower	Evelyn May Barnes
BDM Match (95%)	Hemi William Flower	Evelyn May Barnes
	💍 1920/3825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wakapuaka, Nelson	Wakapuaka, Nelson
Length of Residence	26 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Saint Peters Church, Wakapuaka
Folio	2645
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Ferry, Church of England

17 March 1920

Arnold Ivor Lickers
Margaret Mary Head

Arnold Ivor Fisher
Margaret Mary Head
💍 1920/3826

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

25
19

Nelson
Nelson

25 years
2 years

Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

2646

George Head, Father

17 March 1920

Rev. R. Fay, Catholic

No	28
Date of Notice	17 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Ivor Lickers	Margaret Mary Head
BDM Match (89%)	Arnold Ivor Fisher	Margaret Mary Head
	💍 1920/3826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	2646
Consent	George Head, Father
Date of Certificate	17 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fay, Catholic

20 March 1920

Cecil Francis Hargreaves
Gladys Heath

Cecil Francis Hargreaves
Gladys Heath
💍 1920/3827

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Saleswoman

34
23

Nelson
Nelson

28 years
21 years

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

2647

20 March 1920

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	20 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Francis Hargreaves	Gladys Heath
	💍 1920/3827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Saleswoman
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	28 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	2647
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Church of England

24 March 1920

Joseph Auby Harley
Hilda Ellen Condell

Joseph Auty Harley
Hilda Ellen Condell
💍 1920/3828

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer
Postmistress

24
22

Nelson
Stoke

24 years
22 years

Dwelling of William Reynaud Condell, Stoke

2648

25 March 1920

Rev. R. Fay, Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	24 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Auby Harley	Hilda Ellen Condell
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Auty Harley	Hilda Ellen Condell
	💍 1920/3828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer	Postmistress
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Stoke
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Reynaud Condell, Stoke
Folio	2648
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fay, 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).