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 2685

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

1001

11 December 1925

John William Baughan
Florence Cresswell

John William Baughan
Florence Cresswell
💍 1925/8878

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
18

Christchurch
Sydenham

3 years
6 years

St. Saviour's Church

8936

William Creswell, Father

11 December 1925

C. G. Mutter, Anglican

No	1001
Date of Notice	11 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Baughan	Florence Cresswell
	💍 1925/8878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church
Folio	8936
Consent	William Creswell, Father
Date of Certificate	11 December 1925
Officiating Minister	C. G. Mutter, Anglican

1002

12 December 1925

Ernest Davie Smith
Gertrude Lucy Henley

Ernest Darcie Smith
Gertrude Lucy Henley
💍 1925/8879

Bachelor
Spinster

Salvation Army Officer

27
27

Christchurch
Fitzgerald Avenue, Linwood

4 days
9 months

Salvation Army Hall

8937

12 December 1925

W. Fraser, Salvation Army

No	1002
Date of Notice	12 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Davie Smith	Gertrude Lucy Henley
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Darcie Smith	Gertrude Lucy Henley
	💍 1925/8879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salvation Army Officer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Fitzgerald Avenue, Linwood
Length of Residence	4 days	9 months
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall
Folio	8937
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Fraser, Salvation Army

1003

12 December 1925

Cyril Brown
Ruby Stella Frost

Cyril Brown
Ruby Stella Frost
💍 1925/8880

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

27
30

Richmond
Christchurch

Life
30 years

Registrar's Office

8938

12 December 1925

Registrar

No	1003
Date of Notice	12 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Brown	Ruby Stella Frost
	💍 1925/8880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	8938
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1004

12 December 1925

Joseph Pery Harrison
Grace Choy Caglione

Joseph Percy Harrison
Grace May Eaglesome
💍 1925/8881

Widower
Widow

Flour mill hand

41
34

St. Albans
Upper Riccarton

17 years
4 years

Residence of J. Smith, 56 Wildberry Street, Woolston

8939

12 December 1925

B. J. James, Methodist

No	1004
Date of Notice	12 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Pery Harrison	Grace Choy Caglione
BDM Match (79%)	Joseph Percy Harrison	Grace May Eaglesome
	💍 1925/8881
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Flour mill hand
Age	41	34
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Upper Riccarton
Length of Residence	17 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Smith, 56 Wildberry Street, Woolston
Folio	8939
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1925
Officiating Minister	B. J. James, Methodist

1005

14 December 1925

Albert Edward Osborne
Lucy Miriam Cheads

Albert Edward Osborne
Lucy Miriam Meads
💍 1925/8882

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

23
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 months
17 years

Salvation Army Barracks

8940

Nathaniel Cheads, Father

14 December 1925

G. Inglis, Salvation Army

No	1005
Date of Notice	14 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Osborne	Lucy Miriam Cheads
BDM Match (94%)	Albert Edward Osborne	Lucy Miriam Meads
	💍 1925/8882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 months	17 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Barracks
Folio	8940
Consent	Nathaniel Cheads, Father
Date of Certificate	14 December 1925
Officiating Minister	G. Inglis, Salvation Army

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).