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 2647

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

811

10 October 1925

Leonard Badham
Lilian Alice Vivian

Leonard Badham
Lilian Alice Vivian
💍 1925/8720

Bachelor
Spinster

Clicker

32
31

Woolston
Waltham

30 years
Life

St. Saviour's, Christchurch

8753

10 October 1925

C. G. Mutter, Anglican

No	811
Date of Notice	10 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Badham	Lilian Alice Vivian
	💍 1925/8720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clicker
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Waltham
Length of Residence	30 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's, Christchurch
Folio	8753
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1925
Officiating Minister	C. G. Mutter, Anglican

812

12 October 1925

George Stewart Smith
Bertha Lilian Brogan

George Stewart Smith
Bertha Lilian Brogan
💍 1925/8721

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 months
9 years

St. Mary's Church, Christchurch

8754

12 October 1925

J. M. Rocks, Roman Catholic

No	812
Date of Notice	12 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Stewart Smith	Bertha Lilian Brogan
	💍 1925/8721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8754
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1925
Officiating Minister	J. M. Rocks, Roman Catholic

813

12 October 1925

Alec Thomas Robertson Drain
Elizabeth Hilda Bradshaw

Alec Thomas Robertson Goldie Dryden
Elizabeth Hilda Bradshaw
💍 1925/8722

Bachelor
Spinster

Layer

33
21

Sydenham
Sydenham

5 years
2 years

St. Saviour's, Christchurch

8755

12 October 1925

C. G. Mutter, Anglican

No	813
Date of Notice	12 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alec Thomas Robertson Drain	Elizabeth Hilda Bradshaw
BDM Match (86%)	Alec Thomas Robertson Goldie Dryden	Elizabeth Hilda Bradshaw
	💍 1925/8722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Layer
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's, Christchurch
Folio	8755
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1925
Officiating Minister	C. G. Mutter, Anglican

814

12 October 1925

Joseph Leslie Duncan
Clara Maud Rapson Bird

Joseph Leslie Duncan McTeigue Welsh
Clara Maude Rapson Bird
💍 1925/8723

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

18
19

Prebbleton
Halswell

3 years
15 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

8756

Alexander Welch, Father; Amos Bird, Father

12 October 1925

W. T. Bean, Anglican

No	814
Date of Notice	12 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Leslie Duncan	Clara Maud Rapson Bird
BDM Match (76%)	Joseph Leslie Duncan McTeigue Welsh	Clara Maude Rapson Bird
	💍 1925/8723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	18	19
Dwelling Place	Prebbleton	Halswell
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	8756
Consent	Alexander Welch, Father; Amos Bird, Father
Date of Certificate	12 October 1925
Officiating Minister	W. T. Bean, Anglican

815

13 October 1925

Maurice Moore Fleming
Matilda Ellen Allen

Maurice Moore Fleming
Matilda Ellen Allen
💍 1925/8724

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 days

St. John's Church, Christchurch

8757

13 October 1925

H. G. Hawkins, Anglican

No	815
Date of Notice	13 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Moore Fleming	Matilda Ellen Allen
	💍 1925/8724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	8757
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1925
Officiating Minister	H. G. Hawkins, 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).