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 2212

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar A. F. Bent

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

17 July 1925

Thomas Shaw
Rose Milligan

Thomas Shaw
Rose Milligan
💍 1925/7203

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

53
42

Craiglockhart
Craiglockhart

15 years
2 years

Church of Holy Nativity, Blenheim

25/7208

17 July 1925

George William York, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	17 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Shaw	Rose Milligan
	💍 1925/7203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	53	42
Dwelling Place	Craiglockhart	Craiglockhart
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of Holy Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	25/7208
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1925
Officiating Minister	George William York, Church of England

25 July 1925

Victor Stratford
Jenny Fisher

Victor Stratford
Jenny Fisher
💍 1925/7204

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
24

Blind River
Blind River

12 years
1 year 9 months

Church of Epiphany, Seddon

25/7209

25 July 1925

Oliver James Kimberley, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	25 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Stratford	Jenny Fisher
	💍 1925/7204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Blind River	Blind River
Length of Residence	12 years	1 year 9 months
Marriage Place	Church of Epiphany, Seddon
Folio	25/7209
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Oliver James Kimberley, Church of England

27 July 1925

Dallas Checkley
Thelma Grace Robertson

Dallas Checkley
Thelma Grace Robertson
💍 1925/7181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
23

Weld's Hill
Spring Creek

5 years
23 years

St. Luke's Church, Spring Creek

25/7210

27 July 1925

William Wollstein, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	27 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dallas Checkley	Thelma Grace Robertson
	💍 1925/7181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Weld's Hill	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Spring Creek
Folio	25/7210
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1925
Officiating Minister	William Wollstein, Church of England

27 July 1925

Allan Frank Coleman
Agnes Healy

Allan Frank Coleman
Agnes Healy
💍 1925/7182

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Salesman
Domestic Duties

35
41

Blenheim
Blenheim

35 years
41 years

Residence of Margaret Stuart Healy, Walter Street, Blenheim

25/7211

27 July 1925

William Officer Robb, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	27 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Frank Coleman	Agnes Healy
	💍 1925/7182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	35	41
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	35 years	41 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Margaret Stuart Healy, Walter Street, Blenheim
Folio	25/7211
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1925
Officiating Minister	William Officer Robb, Presbyterian

31 July 1925

Francis Gordon Barnes
Kathleen Ethel Strickland

Francis Gordon Barnes
Kathleen Ethel Strickland
💍 1925/7183

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-hand
Domestic Duties

19
18

Seddon
Seddon

18 years
18 months

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

25/7212

Frederick Samuel Barnes-Father, Amelia Ethel Strickland (Mother)

31 July 1925

A. F. Bent, Registrar

No	52
Date of Notice	31 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Gordon Barnes	Kathleen Ethel Strickland
	💍 1925/7183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-hand	Domestic Duties
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Seddon
Length of Residence	18 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	25/7212
Consent	Frederick Samuel Barnes-Father, Amelia Ethel Strickland (Mother)
Date of Certificate	31 July 1925
Officiating Minister	A. F. Bent, 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).