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 2511

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

151

20 February 1925

Michael Walsh
Margaret Sergeant

Michael Walsh
Margaret Sargeant
💍 1925/9785

Widower
Widow

Labourer

45
43

Spreydon
Spreydon

2 months
3 years

Church of the Sacred Heart, Addington

1142

20 February 1925

P. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	151
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Walsh	Margaret Sergeant
BDM Match (97%)	Michael Walsh	Margaret Sargeant
	💍 1925/9785
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	45	43
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Spreydon
Length of Residence	2 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart, Addington
Folio	1142
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	P. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

152

21 February 1925

Philip Cecil Haycock
Irene Myrtie Fraser

Philip Cecil Haydock
Irene Myrtle Fraser
💍 1925/9786

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

28
26

Alexandra
Christchurch

15 months
Life

St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham

1143

21 February 1925

B. C. Kilham, Anglican

No	152
Date of Notice	21 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Cecil Haycock	Irene Myrtie Fraser
BDM Match (95%)	Philip Cecil Haydock	Irene Myrtle Fraser
	💍 1925/9786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Alexandra	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham
Folio	1143
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1925
Officiating Minister	B. C. Kilham, Anglican

153

23 February 1925

Frank William Prebble
Donella Banks

Frank William Prebble
Donella Banks
💍 1925/9788

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

29
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
5 years

St. Paul's Church

1144

23 February 1925

W. B. Black, Presbyterian

No	153
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Prebble	Donella Banks
	💍 1925/9788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	1144
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	W. B. Black, Presbyterian

154

23 February 1925

George Edward Richard Reed
Ella Myrtie Stokes

George Edward Richard Reed
Ella Myrtle Stokes
💍 1925/9789

Widower
Spinster

Coach Builder

39
39

Christchurch
Sydenham

1 day
1 month

St. John's Church

1145

23 February 1925

J. F. Coursey, Anglican

No	154
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Richard Reed	Ella Myrtie Stokes
BDM Match (97%)	George Edward Richard Reed	Ella Myrtle Stokes
	💍 1925/9789
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Coach Builder
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 day	1 month
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	1145
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. F. Coursey, Anglican

155

23 February 1925

Edward Lewis Hampton
Bessie May Langrish

Edward Lewis Hampton
Bessie May Langrish
💍 1925/9790

Married but not now or heard of wife as alive for seven years last past
Spinster

Railway Servant

36
35

Lyttelton
Christchurch

3 months
4 days

Registrar's Office

1146

23 February 1925

Registrar

No	155
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Lewis Hampton	Bessie May Langrish
	💍 1925/9790
Condition	Married but not now or heard of wife as alive for seven years last past	Spinster
Profession	Railway Servant
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	1146
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 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).