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 2604

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

603

25 July 1925

Gordon Charles Oliver
Vivienne Maude Berry

Gordon Charles Olliver
Vyvienne Maude Berry
💍 1925/6230

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Machinist

21
23

Christchurch
Sydenham

Life
Life

St. Davids Church

6156

25 July 1925

J. Lymburn, Presbyterian

No	603
Date of Notice	25 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Charles Oliver	Vivienne Maude Berry
BDM Match (95%)	Gordon Charles Olliver	Vyvienne Maude Berry
	💍 1925/6230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Machinist
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Davids Church
Folio	6156
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Lymburn, Presbyterian

604

25 July 1925

Preben Peter Hansen
Mamie Ellis

Preben Peter Hansen
Mamie Ellis
💍 1925/6231

Divorced Decree Absolute 9 December 1920
Spinster

Dairy Expert

35
22

Christchurch
Aironside

1 week
1 year

St. Andrews Church

6157

25 July 1925

W. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	604
Date of Notice	25 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Preben Peter Hansen	Mamie Ellis
	💍 1925/6231
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 9 December 1920	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Expert
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Aironside
Length of Residence	1 week	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	6157
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1925
Officiating Minister	W. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

605

25 July 1925

Walter Alexander Finlayson
Florence Anne Sheahan

Walter Alexander Finlayson
Florence Anne Sheehan
💍 1925/6232

Bachelor
Spinster

Acting Guard N.Z.R.

25
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 months
3 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch

6158

25 July 1925

D. Lordan, Roman Catholic

No	605
Date of Notice	25 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Alexander Finlayson	Florence Anne Sheahan
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Alexander Finlayson	Florence Anne Sheehan
	💍 1925/6232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Acting Guard N.Z.R.
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch
Folio	6158
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Lordan, Roman Catholic

606

25 July 1925

Matthew Gurney Bateman
Margaret Florence Prior Lang

Matthew Gainey Bateman
Margaret Florence Prior Lang
💍 1925/6233

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
Life

St. Johns Church

6159

25 July 1925

J. F. Coursey, Anglican

No	606
Date of Notice	25 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Gurney Bateman	Margaret Florence Prior Lang
BDM Match (95%)	Matthew Gainey Bateman	Margaret Florence Prior Lang
	💍 1925/6233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church
Folio	6159
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. F. Coursey, Anglican

607

28 July 1925

John Wallace
Jane McPherson Grant

John Wallace
Jane McPherson Grant
💍 1925/6210

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer

26
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Lukes Church

6160

25 July 1925

F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	607
Date of Notice	28 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wallace	Jane McPherson Grant
	💍 1925/6210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church
Folio	6160
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1925
Officiating Minister	F. N. Taylor, 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).