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 2413

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar H. G. F. Cole

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

9 April 1925

Franklyn Joseph Bade
Elenor Dixon

Franklyn Joseph Bade
Elenor Dixon
💍 1925/5104

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Schoolmistress

32
31

Hokitika
Hokitika

4 years
3 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

4940

9 April 1925

Rev J Perkins, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franklyn Joseph Bade	Elenor Dixon
	💍 1925/5104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Schoolmistress
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	4940
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev J Perkins, Anglican

9 April 1925

Victor Manuel Bergamini
Annie Elizabeth Sandle

Victor Manuel Bergamini
Annie Elizabeth Sandle
💍 1925/5105

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Proprietor
Saleswoman

24
22

Hokitika
Stafford

4 years
3 years

Anglican Church, Stafford

4941

9 April 1925

Rev J Perkins, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Manuel Bergamini	Annie Elizabeth Sandle
	💍 1925/5105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Proprietor	Saleswoman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Stafford
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Stafford
Folio	4941
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev J Perkins, Anglican

14 April 1925

Frederick William Rudkin
Ruth Havill

Frederick William Ruskin
Ruth Havill
💍 1925/5106

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill yardman
Domestic Duties

24
21

Kamiri Fork
Kamiri Fork

5 years
21 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

4942

14 April 1925

H. G. F. Coles, Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	14 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Rudkin	Ruth Havill
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Ruskin	Ruth Havill
	💍 1925/5106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill yardman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Kamiri Fork	Kamiri Fork
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika
Folio	4942
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1925
Officiating Minister	H. G. F. Coles, Registrar

11 May 1925

Arthur Henry Robert Beresford Cooke
Emily Theresa Nightingale

Arthur Henry Robert Beresford Cooke
Emily Theresa Nightingale
💍 1925/5107

Bachelor
Widow (9th December 1924)

Launch Proprietor
Hotelkeeper

36
44

Lake Kanieri
Hokitika

2 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

4943

11 May 1925

H. G. F. Coles, Registrar of Marriages

No	12
Date of Notice	11 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Robert Beresford Cooke	Emily Theresa Nightingale
	💍 1925/5107
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (9th December 1924)
Profession	Launch Proprietor	Hotelkeeper
Age	36	44
Dwelling Place	Lake Kanieri	Hokitika
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika
Folio	4943
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1925
Officiating Minister	H. G. F. Coles, Registrar of Marriages

25 May 1925

Ronald Hill Baigent
Winifred Wilhelmina Laura Baird

Ronald Hill Baigent
Winifred Wilhelmina Laura Baird
💍 1925/5109

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Domestic Duties

29
24

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 years 4 months
3 years 6 months

Residence of R. A. Baigent, Brittan St, Hokitika

4944

25 May 1925

Rev John Francis Jack, Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	25 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Hill Baigent	Winifred Wilhelmina Laura Baird
	💍 1925/5109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 years 4 months	3 years 6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of R. A. Baigent, Brittan St, Hokitika
Folio	4944
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev John Francis Jack, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).