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 2514

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 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

15 April 1920

Robert Lionel Learns
Caroline Emma Scrimgeour

Robert Lionel Kearns
Caroline Emma Scrimgeour
💍 1920/6234

Widower, 31st December 1916
Widow, 5th August 1919

Contractor
Domestic duties

44
39

Nelson
Richmond

4 days
2 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

5816

16 April 1920

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	15 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lionel Learns	Caroline Emma Scrimgeour
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Lionel Kearns	Caroline Emma Scrimgeour
	💍 1920/6234
Condition	Widower, 31st December 1916	Widow, 5th August 1919
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	44	39
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Richmond
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	5816
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1920
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

14 April 1920

William James Borlase
Ethel Emily Thomas

William James Borlase
Ethel Emily Thomas
💍 1920/6235

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee
Domestic duties

29
20

Nelson
Nelson

5 years
16 years

Methodist Parsonage, Hardy Street, Nelson

5817

Wilfred Ernest Thomas, Father

14 April 1920

Rev. A. B. Patchett, Methodist

No	39
Date of Notice	14 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Borlase	Ethel Emily Thomas
	💍 1920/6235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee	Domestic duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	5817
Consent	Wilfred Ernest Thomas, Father
Date of Certificate	14 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Patchett, Methodist

17 April 1920

Walter Black
Miriam Ada Stevens

Walter Black
Miriam Ada Stevens
💍 1920/6236

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Saleswoman

26
28

Nelson
Nelson

10 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

5818

17 April 1920

Rev. J. H. Gill, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	17 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Black	Miriam Ada Stevens
	💍 1920/6236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Saleswoman
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	10 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	5818
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Gill, Presbyterian

19 April 1920

Maurice Martin Giblin
Mabel Edith Watson

Maurice Martin Giblin
Mabel Edith Robson
💍 1920/6237

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Telegraphist

28
26

Stoke, Nelson
Port, Nelson

27 years
26 years

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

5819

19 April 1920

Rev. H. W. Austin, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Martin Giblin	Mabel Edith Watson
BDM Match (92%)	Maurice Martin Giblin	Mabel Edith Robson
	💍 1920/6237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Telegraphist
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Stoke, Nelson	Port, Nelson
Length of Residence	27 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	5819
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Austin, Church of England

20 April 1920

Mervyn Ree Scott
Agnes Patricia Blanchett

Mervyn Lee Scott
Agnes Patricia Blanchett
💍 1920/6239

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties (general) servant

22
23

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

5820

20 April 1920

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mervyn Ree Scott	Agnes Patricia Blanchett
BDM Match (97%)	Mervyn Lee Scott	Agnes Patricia Blanchett
	💍 1920/6239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties (general) servant
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	5820
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

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).