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 2376

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 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

20 April 1920

Jesse Harold Kemble
Coral Grace May Bulliff

Jesse Harold Kemble
Coral Grace May Bulliff
💍 1920/1916

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
17

Omaka
Blenheim

3 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. R. Hodson, South Street, Blenheim

20/5755

Ellen May Hodson, mother of Bride

20 April 1920

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	31
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Harold Kemble	Coral Grace May Bulliff
	💍 1920/1916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Omaka	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Hodson, South Street, Blenheim
Folio	20/5755
Consent	Ellen May Hodson, mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

22 April 1920

Clarence Percival Hammond
Elizabeth Jane Vercoe

Clarence Percival Hammond
Elizabeth Jane Vercoe
💍 1920/1917

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer
Waitress

23
22

Blenheim
Blenheim

23 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

20/5756

22 April 1920

C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages

No	32
Date of Notice	22 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Percival Hammond	Elizabeth Jane Vercoe
	💍 1920/1917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer	Waitress
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	20/5756
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1920
Officiating Minister	C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages

22 April 1920

Andrew Moar
Elizabeth Aldridge

Andrew Moar
Elizabeth Aldridge
💍 1920/1918

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

38
36

Wairau Bar
Wairau Bar

2 weeks
36 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

20/5757

22 April 1920

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

No	33
Date of Notice	22 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Moar	Elizabeth Aldridge
	💍 1920/1918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Wairau Bar	Wairau Bar
Length of Residence	2 weeks	36 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	20/5757
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch G. W. York, Church of England

26 April 1920

Frank Travis Rhodes
Elsie May Ball

Frank Travis Rhodes
Elsie May Ball
💍 1920/1919

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Home Duties

33
32

Seddon
Blenheim

8 years
32 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

20/5758

26 April 1920

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	26 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Travis Rhodes	Elsie May Ball
	💍 1920/1919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Home Duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Blenheim
Length of Residence	8 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	20/5758
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

27 April 1920

Allen Matthew Hale
Gertrude Annie Mogridge

Allen Matthew Hale
Gertrude Annie Mogridge
💍 1920/1920

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman & Seedsman
Domestic Duties

29
28

Blenheim
Blenheim

28 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. G. H. Mogridge, Farnham, Blenheim

20/5759

27 April 1920

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	27 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Matthew Hale	Gertrude Annie Mogridge
	💍 1920/1920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman & Seedsman	Domestic Duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	28 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. H. Mogridge, Farnham, Blenheim
Folio	20/5759
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

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).