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 2421

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar Lowry

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

26 April 1924

James Green
Alice Maggie Addis

James Green
Alice Maggie Addis
💍 1924/3600

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

29
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

29 years
24 years

at the dwelling of Mrs Barbara McCausland, Lismore

5010

26 April 1924

Rev. J. Johnston, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	26 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Green	Alice Maggie Addis
	💍 1924/3600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	29 years	24 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Mrs Barbara McCausland, Lismore
Folio	5010
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Johnston, Presbyterian

28 April 1924

Ernest Hoodill
Winifred Mary Williams

Ernest Woodill
Winifred Mary Minnis
💍 1924/3601

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

39
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

9 years
31 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

5011

28 April 1924

Rev. J. Wiseman, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	28 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Hoodill	Winifred Mary Williams
BDM Match (85%)	Ernest Woodill	Winifred Mary Minnis
	💍 1924/3601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 years	31 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	5011
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wiseman, Church of England

29 April 1924

Arthur Edmond Burney
Veronica Gwendoline Mary Gorrie

Arthur Edmond Burney
Veronica Gwendoline Mary Gorrie
💍 1924/3602

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

31
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

9 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

5012

James Gorrie, father of minor

29 April 1924

Very Rev. Dean O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	43
Date of Notice	29 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edmond Burney	Veronica Gwendoline Mary Gorrie
	💍 1924/3602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	5012
Consent	James Gorrie, father of minor
Date of Certificate	29 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Connell, Roman Catholic

5 May 1924

George Henry Sewell
Annie Watson

George Henry Sewell
Annie Watson
💍 1924/3603

Widower (10 July 1919)
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

34
34

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
6 weeks

Mayfield Hall

5013

5 May 1924

Rev. J. T. Addison, Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	5 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Sewell	Annie Watson
	💍 1924/3603
Condition	Widower (10 July 1919)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Mayfield Hall
Folio	5013
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Addison, Church of England

8 May 1924

Reginald Burns Gallagher
Annie Elizabeth Holland

Reginald Burns Gallagher
Annie Elizabeth Holland
💍 1924/3604

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

53
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

53 years
15 years

Methodist Church, Mayfield

5014

8 May 1924

Mr Arthur Beeson, Methodist

No	45
Date of Notice	8 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Burns Gallagher	Annie Elizabeth Holland
	💍 1924/3604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	53	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	53 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Mayfield
Folio	5014
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Mr Arthur Beeson, 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).