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 2413

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar Lowwhite

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

4 January 1924

James Edward Smith
Lucinda Kelia Holland

James Edward Smith
Lucinda Celia Holland
💍 1924/10095

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

53
50

Ashburton
Ashburton

23 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2118

Robert Holland, father of minor

7 January 1924

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Smith	Lucinda Kelia Holland
BDM Match (98%)	James Edward Smith	Lucinda Celia Holland
	💍 1924/10095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	53	50
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	23 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2118
Consent	Robert Holland, father of minor
Date of Certificate	7 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

14 January 1924

Ellis Edwin Earnshaw
Irene May Beaumont

Ellis Edwin Earnshaw
Irene May Beaumont
💍 1924/10096

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
School Teacher

56
35

Ashburton
Ashburton

15 years

Methodist Church, Ashburton

2119

14 January 1924

Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	14 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ellis Edwin Earnshaw	Irene May Beaumont
	💍 1924/10096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	School Teacher
Age	56	35
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence		15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	2119
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

14 January 1924

Jeffery Gordon Day
Harriet Matilda Hunt

Jeffery Gordon Day
Harriet Matilda Hunt
💍 1924/10098

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

21
19

Ashburton
England

21 years
19 years

St. Stephens Church, Ashburton

2120

John Hunt, father of minor

14 January 1924

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	14 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeffery Gordon Day	Harriet Matilda Hunt
	💍 1924/10098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	England
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church, Ashburton
Folio	2120
Consent	John Hunt, father of minor
Date of Certificate	14 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

19 January 1924

Herman Herbert Redman
Elsie Marion Tripp

Herman Herbert Redman
Elsie Marion Tripp
💍 1924/10099

Bachelor
divorced (degree absolute 14 January 1924)

farm labourer
domestic duties

50
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 months
8 months

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2121

19 January 1924

Rev. R. W. Gully, B.A., Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	19 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Herbert Redman	Elsie Marion Tripp
	💍 1924/10099
Condition	Bachelor	divorced (degree absolute 14 January 1924)
Profession	farm labourer	domestic duties
Age	50	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 months	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2121
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. W. Gully, B.A., Presbyterian

22 January 1924

Leslie James Whiting
Maud Ellen Timms

Leslie James Whiting
Enid Ellen Timms
💍 1924/10100

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

37
37

Ashburton
Ashburton

13 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

2122

22 January 1924

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	22 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie James Whiting	Maud Ellen Timms
BDM Match (91%)	Leslie James Whiting	Enid Ellen Timms
	💍 1924/10100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	2122
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, 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).