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 2481

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar Not specified

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

George Augustus Goodsir
Annie Harris

George Augustus Goodsir
Annie Harris
💍 1925/262

Divorced (Decree Absolute 12.12.1913)
Spinster

Hardware Merchant

42
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 week
2 weeks

St. David's Church

996

5 January 1925

J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Augustus Goodsir	Annie Harris
	💍 1925/262
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 12.12.1913)	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Merchant
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 week	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. David's Church
Folio	996
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

5 January 1925

Sydney George Wilde
Doreen Jocelyn Bate

Sydney George Wilde
Doreen Jocelyn Bate
💍 1925/263

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 days
4 days

St. John's Church

997

William Henry Bate, Father

5 January 1925

R. C. Hettam, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney George Wilde	Doreen Jocelyn Bate
	💍 1925/263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	997
Consent	William Henry Bate, Father
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	R. C. Hettam, Anglican

5 January 1925

Frederick Ernest Gladstone Smith
Olive Johnston

Frederick Ernest Gladstone Smith
Olive Johnston
💍 1925/264

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

39
33

Hawera
New Brighton

4 years
11 years

St. Andrew's Church

998

5 January 1925

J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ernest Gladstone Smith	Olive Johnston
	💍 1925/264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Hawera	New Brighton
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	998
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

5 January 1925

George Angus St. Clair Bone
Hilda Agnes Ledgard

George Angus St Clair Bone
Hilda Agnes Ledgard
💍 1925/265

Bachelor
Spinster

Stonemason

20
21

Papanui
Linwood

3 years
4 years

Holy Trinity Church

999

James Robert Parnell Bone, Father

5 January 1925

C. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Angus St. Clair Bone	Hilda Agnes Ledgard
BDM Match (98%)	George Angus St Clair Bone	Hilda Agnes Ledgard
	💍 1925/265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stonemason
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	999
Consent	James Robert Parnell Bone, Father
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Fitzgerald, Anglican

5 January 1925

William Charles Jagger
Ruby Irene Wilkinson

William Charles Jaggar
Ruby Irene Wilkinson
💍 1925/323

Divorced (Decree Absolute 20 December 1921)
Divorced (Decree Absolute 4 November 1924)

Theatre Manager

38
34

New Brighton
Christchurch

3 years
5 years

Registrar's Office

1000

5 January 1925

Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Jagger	Ruby Irene Wilkinson
BDM Match (98%)	William Charles Jaggar	Ruby Irene Wilkinson
	💍 1925/323
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 20 December 1921)	Divorced (Decree Absolute 4 November 1924)
Profession	Theatre Manager
Age	38	34
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	1000
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).