Intentions to Marry, 1922 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840509, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922f contains pages 2059-2580, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2384

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1922

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

115

15 February 1922

George Herbert Scales
Ella Lilian Rowe

George Herbert Scales
Ella Lilian Rowe
💍 1922/979

Divorced (Decree Absolute 9 September 1921)
Spinster

Shipowner

63
31

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

40 years
24 years

Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

600

16 February 1922

B. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	115
Date of Notice	15 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Scales	Ella Lilian Rowe
	💍 1922/979
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 9 September 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Shipowner
Age	63	31
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	40 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	600
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1922
Officiating Minister	B. Erwin, Presbyterian

116

16 February 1922

Alan Reka Bower
Bellavine Kimble Bragge

Alan Reka Bower
Balldvine Kimble Bragge
💍 1922/438

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

21
17

Sydenham
Sydenham

7 years
8 years

St. John's Church, Latimer Square, Christchurch

601

Lynda Segus Bragge, Mother

16 February 1922

A. N. Wright, Anglican

No	116
Date of Notice	16 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Reka Bower	Bellavine Kimble Bragge
BDM Match (96%)	Alan Reka Bower	Balldvine Kimble Bragge
	💍 1922/438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Latimer Square, Christchurch
Folio	601
Consent	Lynda Segus Bragge, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 February 1922
Officiating Minister	A. N. Wright, Anglican

117

16 February 1922

Nelson Wignall Henry Jones
Winifred Lace

Nelson Wignall Henry Jones
Winifred Lace
💍 1922/449

Widower (29 June 1919)
Widow (30 April 1918)

Grocer's Assistant

36
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Harewood Road, Papanui

602

16 February 1922

A. Peters, Methodist

No	117
Date of Notice	16 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Wignall Henry Jones	Winifred Lace
	💍 1922/449
Condition	Widower (29 June 1919)	Widow (30 April 1918)
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Harewood Road, Papanui
Folio	602
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1922
Officiating Minister	A. Peters, Methodist

118

17 February 1922

Louis Ateweiler
Jane Barr

Louis Alsweiler
Jane Barr
💍 1922/456

Bachelor
Widow (14 March 1891)

Labourer

55
55

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

603

17 February 1922

Registrar

No	118
Date of Notice	17 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Ateweiler	Jane Barr
BDM Match (93%)	Louis Alsweiler	Jane Barr
	💍 1922/456
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (14 March 1891)
Profession	Labourer
Age	55	55
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	603
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Registrar

119

15 February 1922

Joseph Torge Paddison
Nora Warvener

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders

44
19

Fendalton
Fendalton

3 days
3 days

St. Barnabas' Church, Fendalton

N/S

14 days notice, Certificate not yet issued

A. S. Leach, Anglican

No	119
Date of Notice	15 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Torge Paddison	Nora Warvener
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders
Age	44	19
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Fendalton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas' Church, Fendalton
Folio	N/S
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 days notice, Certificate not yet issued
Officiating Minister	A. S. Leach, Anglican

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).