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 2523

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1926 Registrar Holdcroft

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

1 April 1926

Charles Richard John Keen
Rita Winifred Brown

Charles Richard John Keen
Rita Winifred Brown
💍 1926/6036

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman NZR
domestic duties

30
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

12 months
24 years

Church of England, Tinwald

5255

1 April 1926

Rev. A. A. Barnett, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	1 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Richard John Keen	Rita Winifred Brown
	💍 1926/6036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman NZR	domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tinwald
Folio	5255
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Barnett, Church of England

6 April 1926

Henry Mclombie Copland
Ailsa Amelia Margaret Klina Rankin

Henry McCombie Copland
Ailsa Amelia Margaret Mina Rankin
💍 1926/6272

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

37
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

27 years
10 years

at the dwelling of William Rankin, Fendarves

5716

6 April 1926

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

No	13
Date of Notice	6 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mclombie Copland	Ailsa Amelia Margaret Klina Rankin
BDM Match (95%)	Henry McCombie Copland	Ailsa Amelia Margaret Mina Rankin
	💍 1926/6272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	27 years	10 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of William Rankin, Fendarves
Folio	5716
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Morrison M.A., Presbyterian

9 April 1926

Charles Chant
Mary Kane

Charles Chant
Mary Kane
💍 1926/6037

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

45
37

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 years
35 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

5256

9 April 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	9 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Chant	Mary Kane
	💍 1926/6037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	45	37
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	35 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	5256
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

16 April 1926

William Brewer Scott
Margaret Beatrice Maidens

William Brown Scott
Margaret Beatrice Maidens
💍 1926/6038

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

37
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 years
5 years

Church of England, Hinds

5257

16 April 1926

Rev. James Hay, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	16 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brewer Scott	Margaret Beatrice Maidens
BDM Match (93%)	William Brown Scott	Margaret Beatrice Maidens
	💍 1926/6038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hinds
Folio	5257
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hay, Church of England

19 April 1926

William George Tate
Grace Rose Blackwell

William George Tate
Grace Rose Blackwell
💍 1926/6039

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

28
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton

5258

Rose Blackwell, mother of minor, declaration no father resident

19 April 1926

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	19 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Tate	Grace Rose Blackwell
	💍 1926/6039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton
Folio	5258
Consent	Rose Blackwell, mother of minor, declaration no father resident
Date of Certificate	19 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, 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).