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 2520

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

196

9 March 1925

Edwin John Wilson
Margaret Alexandra Thompson

Edwin John Wilson
Margaret Alexandra Thompson
💍 1925/398

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
20

Springston
Springston

2 years
Life

Residence of Mr. Thompson, Springston

1182

Alexander Thompson, Father

9 March 1925

F. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	196
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin John Wilson	Margaret Alexandra Thompson
	💍 1925/398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Springston	Springston
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Thompson, Springston
Folio	1182
Consent	Alexander Thompson, Father
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Robertson, Presbyterian

197

9 March 1925

Walter George Forsyth
Dorothy Alice Ellen Griffin

Walter George Forsyth
Dorothy Alice Ellen Griffin
💍 1925/409

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter

25
18

Christchurch
Linwood

1 year
Life

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

1183

Alfred Griffin, Father

9 March 1925

W. B. Black, Presbyterian

No	197
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter George Forsyth	Dorothy Alice Ellen Griffin
	💍 1925/409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1183
Consent	Alfred Griffin, Father
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	W. B. Black, Presbyterian

198

9 March 1925

Charles Venn Hughes
Dorothy Adeline Chunn

Charles Vernon Hughes
Dorothy Adeline Munson
💍 1925/410

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

24
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 weeks
Life

St. John's Church, Christchurch

1184

Ivy Chunn, Mother

9 March 1925

J. F. Coursey, Anglican

No	198
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Venn Hughes	Dorothy Adeline Chunn
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Vernon Hughes	Dorothy Adeline Munson
	💍 1925/410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	1184
Consent	Ivy Chunn, Mother
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. F. Coursey, Anglican

199

9 March 1925

Alfred James Snelling
Elsie Jane Winter

Alfred James Snelling
Elsie Jane Winter
💍 1925/411

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

32
32

Fairlie
Christchurch

3 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Rugby Street, St. Albans

1185

9 March 1925

L. B. Neale, Methodist

No	199
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Snelling	Elsie Jane Winter
	💍 1925/411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Fairlie	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Rugby Street, St. Albans
Folio	1185
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	L. B. Neale, Methodist

200

9 March 1925

George Henry Hunt
Muriel Renee Grenfell

George Henry Hunt
Muriel Reves Grenfell
💍 1925/412

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

22
22

Woolston
Sydenham

Life
Life

Residence of Rev. B. Dudley, 165 Olliviers Road, Linwood

1186

9 March 1925

B. Dudley, Methodist

No	200
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hunt	Muriel Renee Grenfell
BDM Match (95%)	George Henry Hunt	Muriel Reves Grenfell
	💍 1925/412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. B. Dudley, 165 Olliviers Road, Linwood
Folio	1186
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	B. Dudley, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).