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 2500

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1926

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

2 February 1925

John Barnes
Evelyn Sutton

John Barnes Isherwood
Evelyn Sutton
💍 1925/301

Widower
Spinster

Fruiterer

43
22

Christchurch
Riccarton

20 years
Life

St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton

1086

2 February 1925

N. S. Leatz, Anglican

No	96
Date of Notice	2 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Barnes	Evelyn Sutton
BDM Match (76%)	John Barnes Isherwood	Evelyn Sutton
	💍 1925/301
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	43	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	20 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	1086
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1925
Officiating Minister	N. S. Leatz, Anglican

2 February 1925

Lionel Isaac Robert Newton
Hazel Margaret Robinson

Lionel Isaac Robert Newton
Hazel Margaret Robinson
💍 1925/303

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

24
23

Sydenham
Spreydon

2 1/2 years
Life

Residence of Mrs. B. J. Robinson, 109 Bletsoe Avenue, Spreydon

1088

2 February 1925

P. O'Moughan, Roman Catholic

No	97
Date of Notice	2 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Isaac Robert Newton	Hazel Margaret Robinson
	💍 1925/303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Spreydon
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. B. J. Robinson, 109 Bletsoe Avenue, Spreydon
Folio	1088
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1925
Officiating Minister	P. O'Moughan, Roman Catholic

2 February 1925

Leslie John Otwie
Mona Elsie Hardy

Leslie John Oliver
Mona Elsie Hardley
💍 1925/304

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1089

2 February 1925

Registrar

No	98
Date of Notice	2 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie John Otwie	Mona Elsie Hardy
BDM Match (83%)	Leslie John Oliver	Mona Elsie Hardley
	💍 1925/304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1089
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

3 February 1925

Francis William Mitchell
Nellie Gwendoline Bassett

Francis William Mitchell
Nellie Gwendoline Bassett
💍 1925/305

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

42
24

Christchurch
Stanmore Road, Richmond

3 days
2 years

Methodist Church, Stanmore Road, Richmond

1090

3 February 1925

B. Dudley, Methodist

No	99
Date of Notice	3 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Mitchell	Nellie Gwendoline Bassett
	💍 1925/305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	42	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Stanmore Road, Richmond
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Stanmore Road, Richmond
Folio	1090
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1925
Officiating Minister	B. Dudley, Methodist

100

3 February 1925

Reginald William Norman
Doris Vera Lavell

Reginald William Norman
Doris Ellen Lavell
💍 1925/306

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Classer

22
16

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days
2 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

1091

Ellen Woodrow, formerly Lavell, mother

3 February 1925

Registrar

No	100
Date of Notice	3 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald William Norman	Doris Vera Lavell
BDM Match (86%)	Reginald William Norman	Doris Ellen Lavell
	💍 1925/306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Classer
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	1091
Consent	Ellen Woodrow, formerly Lavell, mother
Date of Certificate	3 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).