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 2293

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 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

7 July 1924

Stanley William Harman
Delsie Minnie Ewers

Stanley William Harman
Delsie Minnie Ewers
💍 1924/6318

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Cable Bay, Nelson
Nelson

25 years
20 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Nelson

7324

William Frederick August Ewers, Father

7 July 1924

W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

No	52
Date of Notice	7 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley William Harman	Delsie Minnie Ewers
	💍 1924/6318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Cable Bay, Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Nelson
Folio	7324
Consent	William Frederick August Ewers, Father
Date of Certificate	7 July 1924
Officiating Minister	W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

10 July 1924

Frederick Samuel Willmott
Dorothy Eveline Bayliss

Frederick Samuel Willmott
Dorothy Eveline Bayliss
💍 1924/5471

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Duties

28
29

Nelson
Nelson

2 years
4 years

All Saints Church, Nelson

7325

10 July 1924

Rev. F. Pring-Rowe, Church of England

No	53
Date of Notice	10 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Samuel Willmott	Dorothy Eveline Bayliss
	💍 1924/5471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Nelson
Folio	7325
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Pring-Rowe, Church of England

14 July 1924

John Robert Simmons
Edith Mary Walker

John Robert Simmons
Edith Mary Walker
💍 1924/5482

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic Duties

25
29

Nelson
Puponga

5 days
6 weeks

Presbyterian Manse at Nelson

7326

14 July 1924

Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	14 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Simmons	Edith Mary Walker
	💍 1924/5482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Puponga
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse at Nelson
Folio	7326
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

14 July 1924

Percy Trevor Stagg
Ethel Vena Savage

Percy Trevor Stagg
Ethel Vena Savage
💍 1924/5486

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
18

Tahunanui
Richmond

24 years
1 year

Residence of Mr. Ernest Savage, Gladstone Road, Richmond

7327

Thomas Richard Savage, Father

14 July 1924

J. G. Price, Church of Christ

No	55
Date of Notice	14 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Trevor Stagg	Ethel Vena Savage
	💍 1924/5486
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Tahunanui	Richmond
Length of Residence	24 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Ernest Savage, Gladstone Road, Richmond
Folio	7327
Consent	Thomas Richard Savage, Father
Date of Certificate	14 July 1924
Officiating Minister	J. G. Price, Church of Christ

14 July 1924

Arthur Copland De Lacy Rose
Constance Ellenor Grace Robinson

Arthur Copland DeLacy Rose
Constance Ellenor Grace Robinson
💍 1924/5487

Widower (15 Sept 1923)
Spinster

Decorator
Domestic Duties

32
34

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
32 years

Methodist Church at Nelson

7328

14 July 1924

Rev. A. L. Blamires, Methodist

No	56
Date of Notice	14 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Copland De Lacy Rose	Constance Ellenor Grace Robinson
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Copland DeLacy Rose	Constance Ellenor Grace Robinson
	💍 1924/5487
Condition	Widower (15 Sept 1923)	Spinster
Profession	Decorator	Domestic Duties
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Nelson
Folio	7328
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Blamires, 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).