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 2601

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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

588

18 July 1925

Laurence Claude Keen
Gertrude Hilda Jamieson

Laurence Claude Keen
Gertrude Hilda Jamieson
💍 1925/6191

Bachelor
Spinster

Metalliferous Expert

26
32

Glenroy
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

Registrar's Office

6141

18 July 1925

Registrar

No	588
Date of Notice	18 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Claude Keen	Gertrude Hilda Jamieson
	💍 1925/6191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metalliferous Expert
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Glenroy	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	6141
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

589

20 July 1925

George Edward Henry Sanford
Clara Helen Styles

George Edward Henry Sanford
Clara Helen Styles
💍 1925/6192

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

20
19

St. Albans
St. Albans

2 years
1 year

Baptist Church, Sydenham

6142

Jennie Sanford (mother), Albert William George Styles (father)

20 July 1925

J. H. Chater, Baptist

No	589
Date of Notice	20 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Henry Sanford	Clara Helen Styles
	💍 1925/6192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Sydenham
Folio	6142
Consent	Jennie Sanford (mother), Albert William George Styles (father)
Date of Certificate	20 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. H. Chater, Baptist

590

20 July 1925

Coll McDonald
Lillian Winnie Lumeah Batty Forgey

Coll McDonald
Lillian Winnieme Lumeah Battey Forsey
💍 1925/6193

Divorced (Decree Absolute 26th June 1925)
Spinster

Farmer

29
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace

6143

20 July 1925

J. Harris, Methodist

No	590
Date of Notice	20 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Coll McDonald	Lillian Winnie Lumeah Batty Forgey
BDM Match (95%)	Coll McDonald	Lillian Winnieme Lumeah Battey Forsey
	💍 1925/6193
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 26th June 1925)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace
Folio	6143
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Harris, Methodist

591

21 July 1925

Alfred Herbert Rudd
Dell Broom

Alfred Herbert Rudd
Dell Broom
💍 1925/6194

Bachelor
Widow (14 September 1923)

Accountant

39
26

Christchurch
Fendalton

2 years
25 years

St. Barnabas' Church, Fendalton

6144

21 July 1925

N. S. Leaver, Anglican

No	591
Date of Notice	21 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Herbert Rudd	Dell Broom
	💍 1925/6194
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (14 September 1923)
Profession	Accountant
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Fendalton
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas' Church, Fendalton
Folio	6144
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1925
Officiating Minister	N. S. Leaver, Anglican

592

21 July 1925

Willis Thomas Goodwin Airey
Isobel Lilian Chadwick

Willis Thomas Goodwin Airey
Isobel Lilian Chadwick
💍 1925/7716

Bachelor
Spinster

Lecturer

28
26

Christchurch
Havelock North

15 years
6 months

Anglican Church, Havelock North

7746

21 July 1925

G. E. Moatean, Anglican

No	592
Date of Notice	21 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willis Thomas Goodwin Airey	Isobel Lilian Chadwick
	💍 1925/7716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lecturer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Havelock North
Length of Residence	15 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Havelock North
Folio	7746
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1925
Officiating Minister	G. E. Moatean, 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).