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 2384

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar C. E. Butcher

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 July 1920

James Connell
Mary Theresa O'Connor

James Connell
Mary Theresa O'Connor
💍 1920/8822

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
28

Blenheim
Ward

10 years
28 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

20/8700

13 July 1920

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	64
Date of Notice	13 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Connell	Mary Theresa O'Connor
	💍 1920/8822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Ward
Length of Residence	10 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/8700
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

15 July 1920

George James Baldick
Clarice Muriel Thompson

George James Baldick
Clarice Muriel Thompson
💍 1920/12462

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic duties

27
21

Wairau Bar
Grovetown

27 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

20/8701

15 July 1920

Mr. C. E. Butcher, Registrar of marriages

No	65
Date of Notice	15 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Baldick	Clarice Muriel Thompson
	💍 1920/12462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wairau Bar	Grovetown
Length of Residence	27 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	20/8701
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. E. Butcher, Registrar of marriages

17 July 1920

Stanley Naylor
Audrey Pretoria Tapp

Stanley Naylor
Audrey Pretoria Tapp
💍 1920/6030

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Cashier

24
19

Blenheim
Wellington

2 weeks
1 year

St. Matthews Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

20/6987

Clara Louisa Tapp, mother

17 July 1920

Rev. G. W. Dent, Church of England

No	66
Date of Notice	17 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Naylor	Audrey Pretoria Tapp
	💍 1920/6030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Cashier
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	20/6987
Consent	Clara Louisa Tapp, mother
Date of Certificate	17 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Church of England

23 July 1920

Bertram Robert Robinson
Alice Mabel Ohlson

Bertram Robert Robinson
Alice Mabel Ohlson
💍 1920/8823

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
1 month

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

20/8702

Harriet Sophia Ohlson, mother

23 July 1920

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	67
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Robert Robinson	Alice Mabel Ohlson
	💍 1920/8823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	20/8702
Consent	Harriet Sophia Ohlson, mother
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

24 July 1920

Augustus Wilson
Ada Popplestone

Augustus Wilson
Ada Popplestone
💍 1920/8834

Widower 26/11/1918
Spinster

Gardener
Seamstress

52
49

Blenheim
Blenheim

7 years
4 days

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

20/8703

24 July 1920

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	68
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Wilson	Ada Popplestone
	💍 1920/8834
Condition	Widower 26/11/1918	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Seamstress
Age	52	49
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	7 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	20/8703
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

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).