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 2446

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

23 January 1924

William Oswald Snell
Elsie Evelyn Casey

William Oswald Snell
Elsie Evelyn Mazey
💍 1924/10286

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

45
38

Rangiora
New Brighton

5 years
5 years

Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown

2435

23 January 1924

C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	56
Date of Notice	23 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Oswald Snell	Elsie Evelyn Casey
BDM Match (94%)	William Oswald Snell	Elsie Evelyn Mazey
	💍 1924/10286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	45	38
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	New Brighton
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown
Folio	2435
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1924
Officiating Minister	C. A. Fraer, Anglican

23 January 1924

Patrick Joseph Twomey
Christine Margaret Farrow

Patrick Joseph Twomey
Christine Margaret Farrow
💍 1924/271

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

31
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
30 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

483

23 January 1924

G. Gallagher, Roman Catholic

No	57
Date of Notice	23 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Twomey	Christine Margaret Farrow
	💍 1924/271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	483
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1924
Officiating Minister	G. Gallagher, Roman Catholic

23 January 1924

Henry Benjamin Rogers
Eileen Agnes Peters

Henry Benjamin Rogers
Eileen Agnes Peters
💍 1924/248

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

22
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
11 years

St. Chad's Church, Linwood

484

23 January 1924

S. E. Holden, Anglican

No	58
Date of Notice	23 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Benjamin Rogers	Eileen Agnes Peters
	💍 1924/248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Chad's Church, Linwood
Folio	484
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1924
Officiating Minister	S. E. Holden, Anglican

24 January 1924

Charles Henry Jones
Bethia Lukies

Charles Henry Jones
Bethia Lukies
💍 1924/249

Widower
Spinster

Monumental Mason

45
34

Riccarton
Addington

15 years
11 years

St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch

485

24 January 1924

N. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	24 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Jones	Bethia Lukies
	💍 1924/249
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Monumental Mason
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	Addington
Length of Residence	15 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	485
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1924
Officiating Minister	N. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

24 January 1924

Sydney Ronald Hood
Margaret [illegible] Aitken

Sydney Ronald Hood
Margaret Oliphant Aitken
💍 1924/250

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller

29
27

St. Albans
St. Albans

5 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

486

24 January 1924

Deputy Registrar

No	60
Date of Notice	24 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Ronald Hood	Margaret [illegible] Aitken
BDM Match (82%)	Sydney Ronald Hood	Margaret Oliphant Aitken
	💍 1924/250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	486
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).