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 2529

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1926 Registrar Colomoto

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

30 August 1926

Patrick John Browne
Eileen Lena Spring

Patrick John Crowe
Eileen Lena Spring
💍 1926/7093

Bachelor
Spinster

Tablet Porter
Domestic duties

58
27

Ashburton
Chertsey

28 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church, Rakaia

7693

30 August 1926

Rev. T. M. Price, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	30 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick John Browne	Eileen Lena Spring
BDM Match (95%)	Patrick John Crowe	Eileen Lena Spring
	💍 1926/7093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tablet Porter	Domestic duties
Age	58	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Chertsey
Length of Residence	28 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Rakaia
Folio	7693
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. M. Price, Roman Catholic

7 September 1926

Benjamin Bradshaw
Emily Frances Bloomfreed

Benjamin Bradshaw
Emily Frances Bloomfield
💍 1926/7094

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

30
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

15 months
3 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

7694

Frances Bloomfreed, mother of minor

7 September 1926

W. W. White, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	7 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Bradshaw	Emily Frances Bloomfreed
BDM Match (96%)	Benjamin Bradshaw	Emily Frances Bloomfield
	💍 1926/7094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	15 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	7694
Consent	Frances Bloomfreed, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	7 September 1926
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

7 September 1926

Robert Farlow Sen.
Ellen Charlotte Smith

Robert Farlow Sim
Ellen Charlotte Smith
💍 1926/7096

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

48
43

Ashburton
Ashburton

28 years
23 years

Malvern Maternity Home, Ashburton

7695

7 September 1926

Rev. J. S. Matthews, Baptist

No	40
Date of Notice	7 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Farlow Sen.	Ellen Charlotte Smith
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Farlow Sim	Ellen Charlotte Smith
	💍 1926/7096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	48	43
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	28 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Malvern Maternity Home, Ashburton
Folio	7695
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Matthews, Baptist

16 September 1926

Leonard Stanley Dolbey
Florence Marjorie Stills

Leonard Stanley Dolbey
Florence Marjorie Stills
💍 1926/7097

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

26
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
21 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

7696

16 September 1926

Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	16 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Stanley Dolbey	Florence Marjorie Stills
	💍 1926/7097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	7696
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine, Presbyterian

18 September 1926

James Henry Hobrea
Ivy Elizabeth Digby

James Henry McCrea
Ivy Elizabeth Digby
💍 1926/7098

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Agent
Domestic duties

39
34

Marlton
Ashburton

4 years
34 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Marlton

7697

18 September 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	18 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Hobrea	Ivy Elizabeth Digby
BDM Match (92%)	James Henry McCrea	Ivy Elizabeth Digby
	💍 1926/7098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Agent	Domestic duties
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Marlton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	34 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Marlton
Folio	7697
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, 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).