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 2487

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1925

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

12 January 1925

Sydney Robertson Smith
Marion Abigail Reynolds

Sydney Robertson Smith
Marion Abigial Reynolds
💍 1925/9719

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 13.9.1923

Salesman

26
33

Sumner
Christchurch

6 years
3 years

St. Paul's Church

1025

12 January 1925

W. McAra, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Robertson Smith	Marion Abigail Reynolds
BDM Match (96%)	Sydney Robertson Smith	Marion Abigial Reynolds
	💍 1925/9719
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 13.9.1923
Profession	Salesman
Age	26	33
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	1025
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. McAra, Presbyterian

13 January 1925

Desmond Henry Todd
Rita Edmonds

Desmond Henry Todd
Rita Edmonds
💍 1925/9730

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Importer

27
19

Christchurch
New Brighton

6 weeks
Life

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

1026

Alice Victorine Edmonds, mother

13 January 1925

D. Lordan, Roman Catholic

No	32
Date of Notice	13 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Desmond Henry Todd	Rita Edmonds
	💍 1925/9730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Importer
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	New Brighton
Length of Residence	6 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	1026
Consent	Alice Victorine Edmonds, mother
Date of Certificate	13 January 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Lordan, Roman Catholic

13 January 1925

Frederick Thomas Tyndol James Rees
Emily Skerten

Frederick Thomas Tyndol James Rees
Emily Skerten
💍 1925/9737

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 7.11.1924

Carpenter

36
39

Linwood
Sydenham

2 years
2 years

Registrar's Office

1027

13 January 1925

Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	13 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Thomas Tyndol James Rees	Emily Skerten
	💍 1925/9737
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 7.11.1924
Profession	Carpenter
Age	36	39
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	1027
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

14 January 1925

Charles Nyall Badham
Annie Lawrence Emmett

Charles Ryall Badham
Annie Lawrence Emmett
💍 1925/9738

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant

51
44

Christchurch
Cashmere

2 years
14 days

Registrar's Office

1028

14 January 1925

Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	14 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Nyall Badham	Annie Lawrence Emmett
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Ryall Badham	Annie Lawrence Emmett
	💍 1925/9738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant
Age	51	44
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Cashmere
Length of Residence	2 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	1028
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

14 January 1925

Rubben Henry Burton
Margaret Mary Sullivan

Ruhben Henry Burton
Margaret Mary Sullivan
💍 1925/9739

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Conductor

26
29

Opawa
Opawa

14 months
Life

Registrar's Office

1029

14 January 1925

Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	14 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rubben Henry Burton	Margaret Mary Sullivan
BDM Match (97%)	Ruhben Henry Burton	Margaret Mary Sullivan
	💍 1925/9739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Conductor
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Opawa
Length of Residence	14 months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	1029
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 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).