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 2454

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1924

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

12 February 1924

Archibald Forrest
Amelia Florence Elizabeth Bell

Archibald Forrest Smellie
Florence Elizabeth Bell
💍 1924/8079

Divorced (Decree Absolute September 1923)
Spinster

Cashier

52
26

St. Albans
St. Albans

43 years
2 years

St. Paul's Church

520

12 February 1924

J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	96
Date of Notice	12 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Forrest	Amelia Florence Elizabeth Bell
BDM Match (72%)	Archibald Forrest Smellie	Florence Elizabeth Bell
	💍 1924/8079
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute September 1923)	Spinster
Profession	Cashier
Age	52	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	43 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	520
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1924
Officiating Minister	J. Paterson, Presbyterian

12 February 1924

James Alfred Marshall
Mary Jane Muriel Comyns

James Alfred Marshall
Mary Jane Muriel Comyns
💍 1924/8080

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
20

Christchurch
Belfast

24 years
2 years

St. David's Church

521

Frederick William Comyns, father

12 February 1924

H. N. Roberts, Anglican

No	97
Date of Notice	12 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Marshall	Mary Jane Muriel Comyns
	💍 1924/8080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Belfast
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church
Folio	521
Consent	Frederick William Comyns, father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1924
Officiating Minister	H. N. Roberts, Anglican

13 February 1924

Thomas John Davidson Straight
Olive Beryl Purton

Thomas John Davidson Straight
Olive Beryl Purton
💍 1924/8081

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

29
20

Linwood
66 Bury Street, Sumner

3 months
Life

Residence of Rev. C. L. Carr

522

Albert Edward Purton, father

13 February 1924

C. L. Carr, Congregational

No	98
Date of Notice	13 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Davidson Straight	Olive Beryl Purton
	💍 1924/8081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Linwood	66 Bury Street, Sumner
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. L. Carr
Folio	522
Consent	Albert Edward Purton, father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1924
Officiating Minister	C. L. Carr, Congregational

13 February 1924

Thomas Owen Stammers
Victoria Were

Thomas Owen Stammers
Victoria Were
💍 1924/8082

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
22

Linwood
Merivale

12 years
Life

Residence of Rev. C. L. Carr, 66 Bury Street, Sumner

523

13 February 1924

C. L. Carr, Congregational

No	99
Date of Notice	13 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Owen Stammers	Victoria Were
	💍 1924/8082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Merivale
Length of Residence	12 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. L. Carr, 66 Bury Street, Sumner
Folio	523
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1924
Officiating Minister	C. L. Carr, Congregational

100

13 February 1924

William Morrow Wilson
Doris Rigby

William Morrow Wilson
Doris Rigby
💍 1924/10289

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

24
26

St. Albans
St. Albans

5 years
5 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

2438

13 February 1924

A. C. Wright, Anglican

No	100
Date of Notice	13 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morrow Wilson	Doris Rigby
	💍 1924/10289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	2438
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1924
Officiating Minister	A. C. Wright, 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).