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 2321

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. S. Evans

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

5 January 1925

Percival Charles Humphries
Florence Hilda Wilkins

Percival Charles Humphries
Florence Hilda Wilkins
💍 1925/1554

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Wyndham
Nelson

5 years
24 years

Church of Christ, Waimea St., Nelson

25/2179

5 January 1925

Rev. G. J. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Charles Humphries	Florence Hilda Wilkins
	💍 1925/1554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Waimea St., Nelson
Folio	25/2179
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

7 January 1925

William George Gibbs
Dorothy Ida Whelham

William George Gibbs
Dorothy Ida Whelham
💍 1925/1555

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor proprietor
School Teacher

35
24

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
2 days

Presbyterian Church, Nile St., Nelson

25/2180

7 January 1925

Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Gibbs	Dorothy Ida Whelham
	💍 1925/1555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor proprietor	School Teacher
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	2 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile St., Nelson
Folio	25/2180
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian Minister

10 January 1925

George Hopkinson
Annie Eliza Sarah Dorothy Miller

George Hopkinson
Annie Eliza Sarah Dorothy Miller
💍 1925/1556

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman
Waitress

21
22

Nelson
Nelson

1 year
20 years

Cathedral Church of England, Nelson

25/2181

10 January 1925

Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	10 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hopkinson	Annie Eliza Sarah Dorothy Miller
	💍 1925/1556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman	Waitress
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/2181
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

12 January 1925

Ernest Edward Boyes
Elsie Stuart

Ernest Edward Boyes
Elsie Stuart
💍 1925/1557

Widower 10-9-1920
Spinster

Cashier
Domestic

58
57

Nelson
Nelson

37 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

25/2182

12 January 1925

Rev. J. McNeill, Presbyterian Church

No	4
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Boyes	Elsie Stuart
	💍 1925/1557
Condition	Widower 10-9-1920	Spinster
Profession	Cashier	Domestic
Age	58	57
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	37 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	25/2182
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McNeill, Presbyterian Church

14 January 1925

George Morgan
Bessie Ogleby

George Morgan
Bessie Ogleby
💍 1925/1558

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Nurse

30
25

Nelson
Nelson

1 year
1 month

St. Peter's Church, Atawhai

25/2183

14 January 1925

Rev. G. H. Schurr, St. Peter's Church

No	5
Date of Notice	14 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Morgan	Bessie Ogleby
	💍 1925/1558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Nurse
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Atawhai
Folio	25/2183
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Schurr, St. Peter's Church

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).