Intentions to Marry, 1925 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840533, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925f contains pages 2177-2702, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2211

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar A. F. Bent

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

21 July 1925

Cyril James Adams
Alice Roxana Carswell

Cyril James Adams
Alice Roxana Carswell
💍 1925/7198

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

19
20

Grovetown
Seddon

19 years
14 years

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

25/7203

George Adams - Father, Annie Carswell - Mother

21 July 1925

Arthur Fredreick Bent, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	21 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril James Adams	Alice Roxana Carswell
	💍 1925/7198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Seddon
Length of Residence	19 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	25/7203
Consent	George Adams - Father, Annie Carswell - Mother
Date of Certificate	21 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Arthur Fredreick Bent, Registrar

2 July 1925

George Ernest Clemett
Elizabeth Elvina May Bonnington

George Earnest Clemett
Elizabeth Elvina May Bounington
💍 1925/7199

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

33
20

Wharanui
Wharanui

12 months
6 months

Residence of T. W. Gordon, Valhalla, Kekerangu

25/7204

George Bonnington - Father

2 July 1925

Edmund Thomas King, Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	2 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Clemett	Elizabeth Elvina May Bonnington
BDM Match (96%)	George Earnest Clemett	Elizabeth Elvina May Bounington
	💍 1925/7199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Wharanui	Wharanui
Length of Residence	12 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of T. W. Gordon, Valhalla, Kekerangu
Folio	25/7204
Consent	George Bonnington - Father
Date of Certificate	2 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Edmund Thomas King, Church of England

7 July 1925

Leo Power Woolley
Norma Isabel Page

Leo Power Woolley
Norma Isabel Page
💍 1925/7200

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

19
17

Spring Creek
Blenheim

19 years
17 years

Residence of W. H. Page, Middle Renwick Rd., Blenheim

25/7205

Francis Henry Woolley - Father, William Henry Page - Father

7 July 1925

George William York, Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	7 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Power Woolley	Norma Isabel Page
	💍 1925/7200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Blenheim
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Page, Middle Renwick Rd., Blenheim
Folio	25/7205
Consent	Francis Henry Woolley - Father, William Henry Page - Father
Date of Certificate	7 July 1925
Officiating Minister	George William York, Church of England

15 July 1925

Hugh Berryman
Moana Lizzie Ramsay Nicolas

Hugh Berryman
Moana Lizzie Ramsay Nicolas
💍 1925/7201

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

29
27

Kohatu, Nelson
Ward

nil
14 years

Residence of John Soup, "Dalhousie", Ward

25/7206

15 July 1925

Oliver James Kimberley, Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	15 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Berryman	Moana Lizzie Ramsay Nicolas
	💍 1925/7201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Kohatu, Nelson	Ward
Length of Residence	nil	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Soup, "Dalhousie", Ward
Folio	25/7206
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Oliver James Kimberley, Church of England

16 July 1925

Walter Mead
Nora Catley

Walter Mead
Nora Catley
💍 1925/7202

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal Contractor
Domestic Duties

25
23

Renwicktown
Renwicktown

25 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Renwicktown

25/7207

16 July 1925

Sydney John William Irvine, Presbyterian Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	16 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Mead	Nora Catley
	💍 1925/7202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Renwicktown
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Renwicktown
Folio	25/7207
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Sydney John William Irvine, Presbyterian 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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).