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 2600

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar Not specified

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

583

14 July 1925

Sidney Lewis Jesse Warman
Muriel Frances Rachel Prescott

Sidney Lewis Jesse Warman
Muriel Frances Rachel Prescott
💍 1925/6186

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant

18
19

Christchurch
Lyttelton

Life
12 years

Residence of Rev. P. N. Paris, 67 Brongham Street, Sydenham

6136

William Warman (Father), Albert Edward Prescott (Father)

14 July 1925

P. N. Paris, Methodist

No	583
Date of Notice	14 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Lewis Jesse Warman	Muriel Frances Rachel Prescott
	💍 1925/6186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant
Age	18	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. P. N. Paris, 67 Brongham Street, Sydenham
Folio	6136
Consent	William Warman (Father), Albert Edward Prescott (Father)
Date of Certificate	14 July 1925
Officiating Minister	P. N. Paris, Methodist

584

15 July 1925

Ivan Campbell Gebbie
Marjorie Irene Gray

Ivan Campbell Gebbie
Marjorie Irene Gray
💍 1925/6187

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
34

Gebbies Valley
Kaituna

6 years
Life

Church of the Epiphany, Gebbies Valley

6137

15 July 1925

E. H. Shore, Anglican

No	584
Date of Notice	15 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Campbell Gebbie	Marjorie Irene Gray
	💍 1925/6187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Gebbies Valley	Kaituna
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of the Epiphany, Gebbies Valley
Folio	6137
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1925
Officiating Minister	E. H. Shore, Anglican

585

16 July 1925

Archibald Francis McAlister
Rita Ellen Divine

Archibald Francis McAlister
Rita Ellen Devine
💍 1925/6188

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

23
18

Papanui
Papanui

1 week
1 week

St. Joseph's Church, Papanui

6138

Laurence [illegible], Hugh Divine (Father)

16 July 1925

J. Hanratan, Roman Catholic

No	585
Date of Notice	16 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Francis McAlister	Rita Ellen Divine
BDM Match (97%)	Archibald Francis McAlister	Rita Ellen Devine
	💍 1925/6188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Papanui
Folio	6138
Consent	Laurence [illegible], Hugh Divine (Father)
Date of Certificate	16 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Hanratan, Roman Catholic

586

17 July 1925

Lantie Roland Williams
Edith Mary Bowring Turner

Lantie Roland Williams
Edith Mary Bowring Turner
💍 1925/6189

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
22

Taumarunui
Christchurch

2 months
6 months

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

6139

17 July 1925

J. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	586
Date of Notice	17 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lantie Roland Williams	Edith Mary Bowring Turner
	💍 1925/6189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	6139
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. N. Taylor, Anglican

587

17 July 1925

Andrew Christie Finnie
Rubina Finlayson

Andrew Christie Finnie
Rubina Finlayson
💍 1925/6190

Married but not seen or heard of as wife alive for seven years past
Spinster

Labourer

34
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
10 years

St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch

6140

17 July 1925

C. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	587
Date of Notice	17 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Christie Finnie	Rubina Finlayson
	💍 1925/6190
Condition	Married but not seen or heard of as wife alive for seven years past	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch
Folio	6140
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1925
Officiating Minister	C. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

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).