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 2323

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar F. Mitchell

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

14 February 1925

James Beresford Nightingale
Bertha Ellen Lucre

James Beresford Nightingale
Bertha Ellen Lucre
💍 1925/1539

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Drapers Assistant

25
24

Nelson
Nelson

9 years
18 years

St John's Methodist Church, Nelson

25/2189

17 February 1925

Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist Church

No	11
Date of Notice	14 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Beresford Nightingale	Bertha Ellen Lucre
	💍 1925/1539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Drapers Assistant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	25/2189
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist Church

20 February 1925

John Downie
Janet Winifred Gaynor

John Downie
Janet Winifred Gaynor
💍 1925/1540

Widower (22-4-1906)
Widow (17-7-1923)

Sawmiller
Domestic

49
40

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
1 year

Residence of Mr. R. V. Jury, 19 St Vincent St., Nelson

25/2190

20 February 1925

Rev. Canon Dart, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Downie	Janet Winifred Gaynor
	💍 1925/1540
Condition	Widower (22-4-1906)	Widow (17-7-1923)
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic
Age	49	40
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. V. Jury, 19 St Vincent St., Nelson
Folio	25/2190
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Dart, Church of England

20 February 1925

Alexander John Disher
Mary Eloise Goodwin

Alexander John Disher
Mary Eloise Goodwin
💍 1925/1541

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
32

Golden Downs
Nelson

6 years
3 1/2 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

25/2191

20 February 1925

Rev. F. Pring. Rowe, All Saints Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Disher	Mary Eloise Goodwin
	💍 1925/1541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Golden Downs	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	25/2191
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Pring. Rowe, All Saints Church of England

23 February 1925

George Talbot O'Hara-Smith
Mary Isabel Jean Harley

George Talbot O'Hara-Smith
Mary Isabel Jean Harley
💍 1925/1542

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

34
25

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
10 years

Church of England, Nelson

25/2192

23 February 1925

Rt. Rev. Bishop W. C. Sadlier

No	14
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Talbot O'Hara-Smith	Mary Isabel Jean Harley
	💍 1925/1542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/2192
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. Bishop W. C. Sadlier

26 February 1925

Vernon Ford
Matilda Miller

Vernon Ford
Matilda Miller
💍 1925/1543

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter
Domestic

23
19

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
3 days

Office of Registrar, Nelson

25/2193

None authorised no person in N.Z. authorised to give consent

25 March 1925

F. Mitchell, Registrar, Nelson

No	15
Date of Notice	26 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Ford	Matilda Miller
	💍 1925/1543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Nelson
Folio	25/2193
Consent	None authorised no person in N.Z. authorised to give consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar, Nelson

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).