Intentions to Marry, 1926 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840541, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926f contains pages 2223-2768, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2301

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar H. G. Davis

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

2 October 1926

Stanley Alfred Smith
Kate Miriam Berry

Stanley Alfred Smith
Kate Miriam Berry
💍 1926/8990

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Dressmaker

29
27

Wellington
Westport

Life
Life

Residence of Mrs Rachel Berry, 115 Russell Street, Westport

10262

2 October 1926

Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	2 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Alfred Smith	Kate Miriam Berry
	💍 1926/8990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Dressmaker
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Westport
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Rachel Berry, 115 Russell Street, Westport
Folio	10262
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

23 October 1926

William Percival Jackson
Carrie Clifton

William Percival Jackson
Carrie Clifton
💍 1926/8991

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

28
28

Westport
Masterton

2 years
2 years

St Johns Anglican Church, Westport

10263

23 October 1926

Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	23 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Percival Jackson	Carrie Clifton
	💍 1926/8991
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Westport	Masterton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church, Westport
Folio	10263
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

27 October 1926

Crawford McKay McIntyre
Grace Reid

Crawford McKay McIntyre
Grace Reid
💍 1926/8992

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

22
19

Carters Junction
Fairdown

Life
Life

St Johns Anglican Church, Westport

10264

Alfred Graham Reid, Father

27 October 1926

Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	27 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Crawford McKay McIntyre	Grace Reid
	💍 1926/8992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Carters Junction	Fairdown
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church, Westport
Folio	10264
Consent	Alfred Graham Reid, Father
Date of Certificate	27 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

30 October 1926

Ernest Ledger Davison
Catherine Jenkins

Ernest Ledger Davison
Catherine Jenkins
💍 1926/8993

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

28
36

Westport
Westport

2 weeks
3 months

St Johns Anglican Church, Westport

10265

30 October 1926

Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	30 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Ledger Davison	Catherine Jenkins
	💍 1926/8993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	28	36
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church, Westport
Folio	10265
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Jermyn, Church of England

8 November 1926

Arthur Melbourne Lockey
Lurlene Grace Taylor

Arthur Melbourne Lockey
Lurline Grace Taylor
💍 1926/8994

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

25
24

Westport
Westport

17 years
Life

St Canice's Roman Catholic Church, Westport

10266

8 November 1926

Rev. J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	8 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Melbourne Lockey	Lurlene Grace Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Melbourne Lockey	Lurline Grace Taylor
	💍 1926/8994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	17 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Canice's Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	10266
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

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).