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 2462

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar Brown

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 February 1925

Norris Griffen Pigou
Aline Luscott Davy

Norris Griffen Pigou
Aline Guscott Davy
💍 1925/1585

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank clerk
School teacher

30
27

Ashburton
Cromwell

11 years
13 years

Presbyterian Church, Cromwell

2260

3 February 1925

Rev. W. Rankin, M.A., Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	3 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norris Griffen Pigou	Aline Luscott Davy
BDM Match (97%)	Norris Griffen Pigou	Aline Guscott Davy
	💍 1925/1585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank clerk	School teacher
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Cromwell
Length of Residence	11 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Cromwell
Folio	2260
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Rankin, M.A., Presbyterian

3 February 1925

John Francis Godwin
Violet Jennie Smith

John Francis Godwin
Violet Jenine Smith
💍 1925/1586

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

20 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

2261

3 February 1925

W. W. White, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	3 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Godwin	Violet Jennie Smith
BDM Match (95%)	John Francis Godwin	Violet Jenine Smith
	💍 1925/1586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	2261
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1925
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

3 March 1925

William John Smith
Emily Ann Hydes

William John Smith
Emily Ann Hydes
💍 1925/1587

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

24
23

Springburn
Ashburton

5 years
21 years

At the residence of Frederick John Hydes, Ashburton Forks

2262

3 March 1925

Rev. R. Dickie, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	3 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Smith	Emily Ann Hydes
	💍 1925/1587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Springburn	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Frederick John Hydes, Ashburton Forks
Folio	2262
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Dickie, Presbyterian

6 March 1925

Leslie Robert Clarke
Sarah Jane Evangeline Bolton

Leslie Robert Clarke
Sarah Jane Evangeline Bolton
💍 1925/1588

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary
Nurse

26
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

25 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2263

6 March 1925

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	6 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Robert Clarke	Sarah Jane Evangeline Bolton
	💍 1925/1588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary	Nurse
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2263
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

6 March 1925

Alec Langdon
Viola Gwendolen Queeny Lamb

Alec Langdon
Viola Gwendolin McQueeney Lamb
💍 1925/1589

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

27
23

Ashburton
Springburn

22 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church, Methven

2264

6 March 1925

Rev. Robert Dickie, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	6 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alec Langdon	Viola Gwendolen Queeny Lamb
BDM Match (93%)	Alec Langdon	Viola Gwendolin McQueeney Lamb
	💍 1925/1589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Springburn
Length of Residence	22 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Methven
Folio	2264
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Dickie, 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).