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 2393

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. M. [illegible]

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

James George Telfer
Muriel Stuart Malloch

James George Telfer
Muriel Stuart Malloch
💍 1925/1572

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Clerk

29
24

Hokitika
Greymouth

1 year
16 years

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

2221

5 January 1925

Rev. Francis Rule, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George Telfer	Muriel Stuart Malloch
	💍 1925/1572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Clerk
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Greymouth
Length of Residence	1 year	16 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	2221
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Rule, Presbyterian

16 January 1925

Daniel Sarsfield Hanrahan
Eileen Mary O'Hallahan

Daniel Sarsfield Hanrahan
Eileen Mary O'Hallahan
💍 1925/1573

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer
Shop assistant

33
27

Greymouth
Greymouth

15 years
18 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

2222

16 January 1925

Rev. Father McMonagle, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Sarsfield Hanrahan	Eileen Mary O'Hallahan
	💍 1925/1573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer	Shop assistant
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	15 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	2222
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McMonagle, Roman Catholic

23 January 1925

George Wyndham
Lillian Haul McKissock

George Wyndham
Lillian Haul McKissock
💍 1925/1574

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic Duties

36
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 months
4 months

Church of England, Greymouth

2223

23 January 1925

Rev. D. R. Hay, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	23 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wyndham	Lillian Haul McKissock
	💍 1925/1574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic Duties
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	2223
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. R. Hay, Church of England

23 January 1925

Richard Peter Condon
Mary Cecilia Keating

Richard Peter Condon
Mary Cecilia Keating
💍 1925/1575

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Shunter
Saleswoman

37
34

Greymouth
Greymouth

2 1/2 years
34 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

2224

23 January 1925

Rev. Father Long, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Peter Condon	Mary Cecilia Keating
	💍 1925/1575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Shunter	Saleswoman
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	34 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	2224
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Long, Roman Catholic

24 January 1925

Leslie Stennett Pepper
Margaret Ellen Bell

Leslie Stennett Pepper
Margaret Ellen Bell
💍 1925/1576

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Tailoress

36
28

Nelson Creek
Greymouth

20 years

Church of England, Ahaura

2225

24 January 1925

Rev. Archdeacon Carr, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	24 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Stennett Pepper	Margaret Ellen Bell
	💍 1925/1576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Tailoress
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson Creek	Greymouth
Length of Residence		20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ahaura
Folio	2225
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Carr, 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).