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 2533

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar Lowounk

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 November 1926

Edmund Thomas Hubbard
Ruby Adelaide Arns

Edmund Thomas Hubbard
Ruby Adelaide Arnst
💍 1926/9091

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

19
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

19 years
19 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

10389

Thomas Hubbard father of minor, Herman Philip Arns father of minor

30 November 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	55
Date of Notice	30 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Thomas Hubbard	Ruby Adelaide Arns
BDM Match (97%)	Edmund Thomas Hubbard	Ruby Adelaide Arnst
	💍 1926/9091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	10389
Consent	Thomas Hubbard father of minor, Herman Philip Arns father of minor
Date of Certificate	30 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

2 December 1926

Bernard Ralph Chambers
Isabel Jeanie Robertson

Bernard Ralph Chambers
Isabel Jeanie Robertson
💍 1926/9092

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

37
53

Ashburton
Ashburton

37 years
6 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

10390

2 December 1926

Rev. A. G. Irvine M.A., Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	2 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Ralph Chambers	Isabel Jeanie Robertson
	💍 1926/9092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	37	53
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	37 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	10390
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine M.A., Presbyterian

3 December 1926

William Joseph Haslemere
Edith Catherine Smith

William Joseph Haslemore
Edith Catherine Smith
💍 1926/9093

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
domestic duties

55
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
4 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

10391

Charles Chambers father of minor

3 December 1926

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	3 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Haslemere	Edith Catherine Smith
BDM Match (98%)	William Joseph Haslemore	Edith Catherine Smith
	💍 1926/9093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	domestic duties
Age	55	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	10391
Consent	Charles Chambers father of minor
Date of Certificate	3 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

10 December 1926

George Alexander Baxter
Henrietta Jane Paterson

George Alexander Baxter
Henrietta Jane Paterson
💍 1926/9470

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

44
34

Ashburton
Mayfield

6 years
8 years

Church of England, Mayfield

10730

10 December 1926

Rev. J. W. F. B. Dyer, Church of England

No	58
Date of Notice	10 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Baxter	Henrietta Jane Paterson
	💍 1926/9470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	44	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Mayfield
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mayfield
Folio	10730
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. F. B. Dyer, Church of England

11 December 1926

Douglas Charles Robbins
Violet Dorothy Gray

Douglas Charles Robbins
Violet Dorothy Gray
💍 1926/9094

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

25
18

Ashburton
Ashburton

24 years
18 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

10392

Elizabeth Jane Skelton formerly Gray mother of minor

11 December 1926

Rev. A. G. Irvine M.A., Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	11 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Charles Robbins	Violet Dorothy Gray
	💍 1926/9094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	24 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	10392
Consent	Elizabeth Jane Skelton formerly Gray mother of minor
Date of Certificate	11 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Irvine M.A., Presbyterian

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).