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 2563

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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

405

29 April 1925

Hubert Henderson
Louise Etiennette Sidonie Sauze

Hubert Henderson
Louise Etiennette Sidonie Sanze
💍 1925/2860

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

33
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch

3688

29 April 1925

D. Lordan, Roman Catholic

No	405
Date of Notice	29 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Henderson	Louise Etiennette Sidonie Sauze
BDM Match (98%)	Hubert Henderson	Louise Etiennette Sidonie Sanze
	💍 1925/2860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch
Folio	3688
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Lordan, Roman Catholic

406

30 April 1925

Norman Soward Boshead
Margaret Emma Yvonne Ferrier

Norman Goward Coxhead
Margaret Emma Yvonne Ferrier
💍 1925/2861

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
25

St Martins
St Martins

5 years
Life

St Mary's Church, Opawa

3689

30 April 1925

N. Williams, Anglican

No	406
Date of Notice	30 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Soward Boshead	Margaret Emma Yvonne Ferrier
BDM Match (93%)	Norman Goward Coxhead	Margaret Emma Yvonne Ferrier
	💍 1925/2861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	St Martins	St Martins
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Opawa
Folio	3689
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1925
Officiating Minister	N. Williams, Anglican

407

30 April 1925

Ian Stewart Fieldin Richardson
Margaret Joan Pratt

Ian Stewart Fieldin Richardson
Margaret Joan Pratt
💍 1925/2862

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

22
20

Radley
Spreydon

32 years
3 years

Residence of M. B. Richardson, 37 Clarendon Terrace, Radley

3690

14 days notice (Section 27)

15 May 1927

H. Janner, Presbyterian

No	407
Date of Notice	30 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ian Stewart Fieldin Richardson	Margaret Joan Pratt
	💍 1925/2862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Radley	Spreydon
Length of Residence	32 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. B. Richardson, 37 Clarendon Terrace, Radley
Folio	3690
Consent	14 days notice (Section 27)
Date of Certificate	15 May 1927
Officiating Minister	H. Janner, Presbyterian

408

1 May 1925

John Steven Doyle
Sophia Elizabeth Schluter

John Steven Doyle
Sophia Elizabeth Schluter
💍 1925/2863

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

29
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3691

1 May 1925

Deputy Registrar

No	408
Date of Notice	1 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Steven Doyle	Sophia Elizabeth Schluter
	💍 1925/2863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3691
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

409

1 May 1925

Joseph Hadfield
Annie Zararia Harriot

Joseph Hadfield
Annie Fararia Marriott
💍 1925/2864

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

37
20

Christchurch
Fendalton

3 years
Life

St Barnabas Church, Fendalton

3692

John Henry Harriot, Father

1 May 1925

H. S. Leach, Anglican

No	409
Date of Notice	1 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hadfield	Annie Zararia Harriot
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Hadfield	Annie Fararia Marriott
	💍 1925/2864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	37	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Fendalton
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	3692
Consent	John Henry Harriot, Father
Date of Certificate	1 May 1925
Officiating Minister	H. S. Leach, 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).