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 2340

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar F. Mitchell

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

27 October 1925

Albert Keith Coombs
Gwendoline Edna Branford

Albert Keith Coombs
Gwendoline Edna Branford
💍 1925/10556

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

26
23

Nelson
Nelson

5 months
23 years

Residence of Mr. G. Branford, 49 Grove Street, Nelson

25/10046

27 October 1925

Rev. G. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

No	86
Date of Notice	27 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Keith Coombs	Gwendoline Edna Branford
	💍 1925/10556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Branford, 49 Grove Street, Nelson
Folio	25/10046
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

5 November 1925

Aniello Esposito
Maria Guiseppa Fiatarone

Aniello Esposito
Maria Giuseppa Fiatarone
💍 1925/10558

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic

32
20

Nelson
Nelson

14 days
20 years

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Nelson

25/10047

Pasquale Fiatarone, father

5 November 1925

Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	87
Date of Notice	5 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aniello Esposito	Maria Guiseppa Fiatarone
BDM Match (96%)	Aniello Esposito	Maria Giuseppa Fiatarone
	💍 1925/10558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	14 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	25/10047
Consent	Pasquale Fiatarone, father
Date of Certificate	5 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

6 November 1925

Malcolm Ernest Rose
Kathleen Louise Cresswell

Malcolm Ernest Rose
Kathleen Louise Cresswell
💍 1925/10559

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
26

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
4 days

Cathedral Church of England, Nelson

25/10048

6 November 1925

Rev. J. Rogers, Anglican

No	88
Date of Notice	6 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Ernest Rose	Kathleen Louise Cresswell
	💍 1925/10559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	4 days
Marriage Place	Cathedral Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/10048
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rogers, Anglican

9 November 1925

George Spencer Stiles
Ethel May Cummings

George Spencer Stiles
Ethel May Cummings
💍 1925/10560

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic

23
23

Nelson
Nelson

23 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

25/10049

9 November 1925

Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	9 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Spencer Stiles	Ethel May Cummings
	💍 1925/10560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	25/10049
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McNeill, Presbyterian

12 November 1925

Herbert Wilfred Hawke
Annie Martin Armstrong

Herbert Wilfred Hawke
Annie Martin Armstrong
💍 1925/10561

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Saleswoman

25
26

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Cathedral Church of England, Nelson

25/10050

12 November 1925

Rev. C. F. Askew, Church of England

No	90
Date of Notice	12 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Wilfred Hawke	Annie Martin Armstrong
	💍 1925/10561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Saleswoman
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Cathedral Church of England, Nelson
Folio	25/10050
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew, 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).