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 2480

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar D. W. Colville

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

18 December 1925

Geoffrey Victor Wild
Harriett Newport Porter

Geoffrey Victor Wild
Harriet Newport Porter
💍 1925/686

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Teacher

28
27

Ashburton
Ashburton

1 year
1 year

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

10132

18 December 1925

Rev. C. S. Matthews, Baptist

No	84
Date of Notice	18 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffrey Victor Wild	Harriett Newport Porter
BDM Match (98%)	Geoffrey Victor Wild	Harriet Newport Porter
	💍 1925/686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Teacher
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	10132
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Matthews, Baptist

23 December 1925

Philip James Capon
Myrtte Fessey

Philip James Capon
Myrtle Fessey
💍 1926/437

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic duties

24
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

1 week
18 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

137

23 December 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	85
Date of Notice	23 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip James Capon	Myrtte Fessey
BDM Match (96%)	Philip James Capon	Myrtle Fessey
	💍 1926/437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 week	18 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	137
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

23 December 1925

James Townsend Cook
Annie Grace Clarke

James Townsend Cox
Annie Grace Clark
💍 1926/438

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic duties

24
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 months
2 months

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

138

23 December 1925

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	86
Date of Notice	23 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Townsend Cook	Annie Grace Clarke
BDM Match (92%)	James Townsend Cox	Annie Grace Clark
	💍 1926/438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	138
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

29 December 1925

Henry Clifford Burgess
Edith Wilhelmina Simpson

Henry Clifford Burgess
Edith Wilhelmina Simpson
💍 1925/687

Bachelor
Spinster

Law clerk
Domestic duties

29
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 years
3 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

10133

29 December 1925

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	87
Date of Notice	29 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Clifford Burgess	Edith Wilhelmina Simpson
	💍 1925/687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law clerk	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	10133
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

29 December 1925

Geoffrey Marmaduke Dixon
Colleen Mary Orbell

Jeoffrey Marmaduke Dixon
Colleen May Orbell
💍 1925/688

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
26

Ashburton
Ashburton

19 years
19 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

10134

29 December 1925

Rev. W. H. Orbell, Church of England

No	88
Date of Notice	29 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffrey Marmaduke Dixon	Colleen Mary Orbell
BDM Match (95%)	Jeoffrey Marmaduke Dixon	Colleen May Orbell
	💍 1925/688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	10134
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Orbell, Church of England

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).