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 2596

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

563

3 July 1925

David Robert Boswell Robertson
Ruby Irene Thelma Kostela

David Boswell Robertson
Ruby Irene Thelma Koskela
💍 1925/6169

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter N.Z.R.

21
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
18 years

St. Michael's Church

6119

May Kostela, mother

3 July 1925

C. J. Petrie, Anglican

No	563
Date of Notice	3 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Robert Boswell Robertson	Ruby Irene Thelma Kostela
BDM Match (86%)	David Boswell Robertson	Ruby Irene Thelma Koskela
	💍 1925/6169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter N.Z.R.
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	6119
Consent	May Kostela, mother
Date of Certificate	3 July 1925
Officiating Minister	C. J. Petrie, Anglican

564

4 July 1925

Alfred Bertram Staply
Agnes Evelyn Choir

Alfred Bertram Stafsley
Agnes Evelyn Moir
💍 1925/6171

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
26

Woolston
St. Albans

4 years
Life

St. Paul's Church

6120

4 July 1925

W. B. Scott, Presbyterian

No	564
Date of Notice	4 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Bertram Staply	Agnes Evelyn Choir
BDM Match (88%)	Alfred Bertram Stafsley	Agnes Evelyn Moir
	💍 1925/6171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Woolston	St. Albans
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	6120
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1925
Officiating Minister	W. B. Scott, Presbyterian

565

4 July 1925

David Arthur Turnbull
Alice Mary Allen

David Arthur Turnbull
Alice Mary Allen
💍 1925/6172

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

18
17

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
4 years

Registrar's Office

6121

Thomas Samuel Turnbull, father; Francis Henry Allen, father

4 July 1925

Registrar

No	565
Date of Notice	4 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Arthur Turnbull	Alice Mary Allen
	💍 1925/6172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	18	17
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	6121
Consent	Thomas Samuel Turnbull, father; Francis Henry Allen, father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

566

4 July 1925

Neville Staveley Turton
Ivy Sophia Sturr

Melville Staveley Turton
Ivy Sophia Skurr
💍 1925/6173

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

25
24

Christchurch
Riccarton

1 day
5 years

St. Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton

6122

4 July 1925

A. J. York, Anglican

No	566
Date of Notice	4 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neville Staveley Turton	Ivy Sophia Sturr
BDM Match (93%)	Melville Staveley Turton	Ivy Sophia Skurr
	💍 1925/6173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	1 day	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton
Folio	6122
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1925
Officiating Minister	A. J. York, Anglican

567

6 July 1925

Norman Frank Schroder
Eileen Barbara Forater

Norman Frank Schroder
Eileen Barbara Forster
💍 1925/6174

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer

23
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 day
24 years

St. Andrew's Manse

6123

6 July 1925

N. L. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	567
Date of Notice	6 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Frank Schroder	Eileen Barbara Forater
BDM Match (98%)	Norman Frank Schroder	Eileen Barbara Forster
	💍 1925/6174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 day	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse
Folio	6123
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1925
Officiating Minister	N. 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).