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 2284

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 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

15 February 1924

Herbert Cornwell Snow
Margaret Moore

Herbert Cornville Snow
Margaret Moore
💍 1924/9083

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

22
24

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
24 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Nelson

24/2066

15 February 1924

Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	15 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Cornwell Snow	Margaret Moore
BDM Match (93%)	Herbert Cornville Snow	Margaret Moore
	💍 1924/9083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	24/2066
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

15 February 1924

Fredrick Thomas Roy Hickmott
Winifred Sarah Shirtliff

Fredrick Thomas Roy Hickmott
Winifred Sarah Shirtliff
💍 1924/9084

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Typist

25
21

Rangiora
Nelson

25 years
21 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages at Nelson

24/2067

15 February 1924

W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	15 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Thomas Roy Hickmott	Winifred Sarah Shirtliff
	💍 1924/9084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Typist
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Nelson
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages at Nelson
Folio	24/2067
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1924
Officiating Minister	W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

25 February 1924

Cecil Charles Congdon
Muriel Evelyn Hart

Cecil Charles Congdon
Muriel Evelyn Hart
💍 1924/9085

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Nil

22
20

Nelson
Upper Moutere

6 months
20 years

St. John's Methodist Church at Nelson

24/2068

Joseph Harry Hart, father

25 February 1924

Rev. E. W. Hames, Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	25 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Charles Congdon	Muriel Evelyn Hart
	💍 1924/9085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Nil
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Upper Moutere
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church at Nelson
Folio	24/2068
Consent	Joseph Harry Hart, father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Hames, Methodist

29 February 1924

Thomas Eden Heron
Constance Muriel Barnett

Thomas Eden Heron
Constance Muriel Barnett
💍 1924/9086

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Domestic Duties

48
35

Atawhai
Atawhai

15 months
35 years

St. Peter's Church of England, Atawhai

24/2069

29 February 1924

Rev. G. H. Heron, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	29 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Eden Heron	Constance Muriel Barnett
	💍 1924/9086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	48	35
Dwelling Place	Atawhai	Atawhai
Length of Residence	15 months	35 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church of England, Atawhai
Folio	24/2069
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Heron, Church of England

3 March 1924

Gerald Holliday Bettany
Vara May Shallcrass

Gerald Holliday Bettany
Vara May Shallcrass
💍 1924/9087

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer
Photographer

28
19

Nelson, (from Wellington)
Nelson

1 day;
19 years

St. John's Methodist Church at Nelson

24/2070

Arthur Williamson Shallcrass, father

3 March 1924

Rev. E. W. Hames, Methodist

No	20
Date of Notice	3 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Holliday Bettany	Vara May Shallcrass
	💍 1924/9087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer	Photographer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson, (from Wellington)	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day;	19 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church at Nelson
Folio	24/2070
Consent	Arthur Williamson Shallcrass, father
Date of Certificate	3 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Hames, 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).