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 2472

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar not specified

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

3 August 1925

William Reid
Annie Alexander

William Reid
Annie Alexander
💍 1925/7283

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

39
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

7 years
28 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7312

3 August 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, M.A., Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	3 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Reid	Annie Alexander
	💍 1925/7283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	7 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7312
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, M.A., Presbyterian

8 August 1925

Albert Reeve Baker
Henrietta Marie Savill

Albert Reeve Baker
Henrietta Marie Savill
💍 1925/7284

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

32
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

32 years
10 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

7313

Albert Edward Savill, father of minor

8 August 1925

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	8 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Reeve Baker	Henrietta Marie Savill
	💍 1925/7284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	32 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	7313
Consent	Albert Edward Savill, father of minor
Date of Certificate	8 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

11 August 1925

Alfred Edward Morgan
Christina Sangster Butterworth

Alfred Edward Morgan
Christina Sangster Butterworth
💍 1925/7285

Bachelor
Spinster

Limeburner
Domestic duties

29
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
5 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7314

Robert Edmond Butterworth, father of minor

11 August 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	11 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Morgan	Christina Sangster Butterworth
	💍 1925/7285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Limeburner	Domestic duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7314
Consent	Robert Edmond Butterworth, father of minor
Date of Certificate	11 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

11 August 1925

James Louis Charles Scott
Margaret Edith Beatty

James Louis Charles Scott
Margaret Edith Beatty
💍 1925/10979

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
35

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
35 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7721

11 August 1925

Rev. A. S. Morrison, M.A., Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	11 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Louis Charles Scott	Margaret Edith Beatty
	💍 1925/10979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	35 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7721
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Morrison, M.A., Presbyterian

15 August 1925

William Sidney Fowke
Mary Boothroyd

William Dudney Fowke
Mary Boothroyd
💍 1925/7286

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

25
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7315

15 August 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, M.A., Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	15 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sidney Fowke	Mary Boothroyd
BDM Match (95%)	William Dudney Fowke	Mary Boothroyd
	💍 1925/7286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7315
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, M.A., 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).