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 2503

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

111

6 February 1925

Norman Heathcote McCroie
Florence Rita Reed

Norman Heathcote McCrostie
Florence Rita Seed
💍 1925/366

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

23
24

Papanui
Ronside

Life
Life

Wesley Church, Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch

1102

6 February 1925

E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	111
Date of Notice	6 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Heathcote McCroie	Florence Rita Reed
BDM Match (93%)	Norman Heathcote McCrostie	Florence Rita Seed
	💍 1925/366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Ronside
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	1102
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1925
Officiating Minister	E. D. Patchett, Methodist

112

7 February 1925

Emil Humphrey Crate
Adeline Esther Thompson

Emil Humphrey Crake
Adeline Esther Thompson
💍 1925/367

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

29
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

1103

James King Thompson, Father

7 February 1925

C. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	112
Date of Notice	7 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emil Humphrey Crate	Adeline Esther Thompson
BDM Match (97%)	Emil Humphrey Crake	Adeline Esther Thompson
	💍 1925/367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	1103
Consent	James King Thompson, Father
Date of Certificate	7 February 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Fitzgerald, Anglican

113

7 February 1925

Foster Curtis
Elsie Gertrude Maude Rickman

Foster Surplis
Elsie Gertrude Maude Rickman
💍 1925/368

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

39
38

Addington
St. Albans

10 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1104

7 February 1925

Registrar

No	113
Date of Notice	7 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Foster Curtis	Elsie Gertrude Maude Rickman
BDM Match (89%)	Foster Surplis	Elsie Gertrude Maude Rickman
	💍 1925/368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Addington	St. Albans
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1104
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

114

9 February 1925

Vincent Clarence Drewitt Crosson
Amelia Violet Mills

Vincent Clarence Drewitt Croxson
Amelia Violet Mills
💍 1925/369

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

22
22

Johnsonville
Christchurch

3 months
Life

All Saints Church, Burwood

1105

9 February 1925

C. A. Tobin, Anglican

No	114
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vincent Clarence Drewitt Crosson	Amelia Violet Mills
BDM Match (98%)	Vincent Clarence Drewitt Croxson	Amelia Violet Mills
	💍 1925/369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Burwood
Folio	1105
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	C. A. Tobin, Anglican

115

9 February 1925

Frederick Robert Lane
Violet Myrtle Estall

Frederick Robert Lane
Violet Myrtle Estall
💍 1925/370

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheet Metal Worker

21
19

Merivale
Spreydon

Life
Life

Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown

1106

Bruce Edward Estall, Father

9 February 1925

C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	115
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Robert Lane	Violet Myrtle Estall
	💍 1925/370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheet Metal Worker
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Merivale	Spreydon
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown
Folio	1106
Consent	Bruce Edward Estall, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	C. A. Fraer, Anglican

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).