Intentions to Marry, 1924 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840525, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924f contains pages 2129-2646, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2287

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar W. M. Egglestone

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

1 April 1924

Marshall Abraham Denner
Edna Margaret Joan Smith

Marshall Abraham Venner
Edna Margaret Joan Smith
💍 1924/1434

Bachelor
Spinster

Attendant mental hospital
School teacher

31
23

Nelson
Hope

1 year
6 months

Residence of J.W.O. Smith, Hope

4918

1 April 1924

Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	1 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Marshall Abraham Denner	Edna Margaret Joan Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Marshall Abraham Venner	Edna Margaret Joan Smith
	💍 1924/1434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Attendant mental hospital	School teacher
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Hope
Length of Residence	1 year	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of J.W.O. Smith, Hope
Folio	4918
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

9 April 1924

Edward Eade
Doris Maude Lockyer

Edward Eade
Doris Maude Lockyer
💍 1924/1436

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank clerk
Clerk

34
22

Christchurch
Nelson

34 years
22 years

Church of England Cathedral, Nelson

4919

9 April 1924

Rev. C. J. Askew, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	9 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Eade	Doris Maude Lockyer
	💍 1924/1436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank clerk	Clerk
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Nelson
Length of Residence	34 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	4919
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Askew, Church of England

14 April 1924

Stanley Theodore Savage
Nellie Beatrice Boyce

Stanley Theodore Savage
Nellie Beatrice Boyce
💍 1924/1437

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Clerk

24
27

Nelson
Nelson

24 years
27 years

Church of England, Stoke

4920

14 April 1924

Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	14 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Theodore Savage	Nellie Beatrice Boyce
	💍 1924/1437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Clerk
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	24 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Stoke
Folio	4920
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers, Church of England

17 April 1924

Gilbert William Bernard Hunt
Dulcie Hamilton

Gilbert William Bernard Hunt
Dulcie Hamilton
💍 1924/1438

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial traveller
Domestic duties

24
21

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
21 years

Church of England Cathedral, Nelson

4921

17 April 1924

Rev. B. J. Askew, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	17 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert William Bernard Hunt	Dulcie Hamilton
	💍 1924/1438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial traveller	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	4921
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. J. Askew, Church of England

17 April 1924

Malcolm Wallace Glenny Johnson
Gara Levy

Malcolm Wallace Glenny Johnson
Sara Levy
💍 1924/1439

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
21

Stoke
Nelson

1 day
3 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Westport

4922

17 April 1924

W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

No	31
Date of Notice	17 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Wallace Glenny Johnson	Gara Levy
BDM Match (94%)	Malcolm Wallace Glenny Johnson	Sara Levy
	💍 1924/1439
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Westport
Folio	4922
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1924
Officiating Minister	W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).