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 2524

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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

216

16 January 1926

Stanley James Watson
Inga Cuba Hannam

Stanley James Watson
Inga Cuba Hannam
💍 1925/407

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

25
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 1/2 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch

1199

16 January 1926

J. Harris, Methodist

No	216
Date of Notice	16 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley James Watson	Inga Cuba Hannam
	💍 1925/407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	1199
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1926
Officiating Minister	J. Harris, Methodist

217

17 January 1926

Laurence Bertram Castbolt
Evelyn May Austen

Laurence Bertram Casbolt
Evelyn May Austin
💍 1925/408

Bachelor
Spinster

Pictorial Artist

23
21

St. Albans
St. Albans

2 years
1 year

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

1200

17 January 1926

J. J. North, Baptist

No	217
Date of Notice	17 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Bertram Castbolt	Evelyn May Austen
BDM Match (95%)	Laurence Bertram Casbolt	Evelyn May Austin
	💍 1925/408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pictorial Artist
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	1200
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1926
Officiating Minister	J. J. North, Baptist

218

17 January 1926

Frederick Lennard Castbolt
Irene Isabel Pine

Frederick Lennard Casbolt
Irene Isabel Pirie
💍 1925/417

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographic Printer

28
24

Richmond
Richmond

5 years
Life

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

1201

17 January 1926

J. J. North, Baptist

No	218
Date of Notice	17 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Lennard Castbolt	Irene Isabel Pine
BDM Match (93%)	Frederick Lennard Casbolt	Irene Isabel Pirie
	💍 1925/417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographic Printer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Richmond
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	1201
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1926
Officiating Minister	J. J. North, Baptist

219

15 January 1926

Edward Thornton
Myrtle Ruby Lutton

Edward Thornton
Myrtle Ruby Lutton
💍 1925/428

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

32
22

Sydenham
Linwood

20 years
15 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

1202

15 January 1926

J. F. Coursey, Anglican

No	219
Date of Notice	15 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thornton	Myrtle Ruby Lutton
	💍 1925/428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Linwood
Length of Residence	20 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1202
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1926
Officiating Minister	J. F. Coursey, Anglican

220

17 January 1926

Francis Samuel Woodward
Sarah Rita McFadden

Francis Samuel Woodward
Sarah Rita May McFadden
💍 1925/434

Bachelor
Spinster

Signwriter

27
22

Christchurch
New Brighton

3 years
Life

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

1203

17 January 1926

W. B. Black, Presbyterian

No	220
Date of Notice	17 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Samuel Woodward	Sarah Rita McFadden
BDM Match (91%)	Francis Samuel Woodward	Sarah Rita May McFadden
	💍 1925/434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Signwriter
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	New Brighton
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1203
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1926
Officiating Minister	W. B. Black, 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).