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 2520

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar Townsend

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

5 March 1926

Albert Colyer Price
Agnes Ruby Armstrong

Albert Colyter Price
Agnus Ruby Armstrong
💍 1926/1288

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

26
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

19 years
3 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2568

5 March 1926

Rev. A. S. Irvine, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	5 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Colyer Price	Agnes Ruby Armstrong
BDM Match (95%)	Albert Colyter Price	Agnus Ruby Armstrong
	💍 1926/1288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	19 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2568
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Irvine, Presbyterian

19 March 1926

Harry Gallesly
Ethel Mary Elizabeth Bishop

Harry Galletly
Ethel Mary Elizabeth Bishop
💍 1926/1289

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

45
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

16 years
30 years

St Johns Church of England, Barr Hill

2569

19 March 1926

Rev. J. C. Hawksworth, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	19 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Gallesly	Ethel Mary Elizabeth Bishop
BDM Match (96%)	Harry Galletly	Ethel Mary Elizabeth Bishop
	💍 1926/1289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	45	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	16 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England, Barr Hill
Folio	2569
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Hawksworth, Church of England

22 March 1926

Bert Vivian Pearce
Evelyn Pearl Judd

Bert Vivian Pearce
Evelyn Pearl Judd
💍 1926/1290

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
24

Ashburton
Ashburton

20 years
24 years

St Andrews Church of England, Tinwald

2570

22 March 1926

Rev. A. H. Barnett, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	22 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Vivian Pearce	Evelyn Pearl Judd
	💍 1926/1290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church of England, Tinwald
Folio	2570
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Barnett, Church of England

26 March 1926

Clifford Crawford
Elizabeth May Leadley

Clifford Crawford
Elizabeth May Leadley
💍 1926/1291

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

13 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Ashburton

2571

26 March 1926

Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	26 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Crawford	Elizabeth May Leadley
	💍 1926/1291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	13 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	2571
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

27 March 1926

Charles Gilliand
Rose Gertrude Ann Ford

Charles Gilliand
Rose Gertrude Ann Ford
💍 1926/3344

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

39
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

6 years
19 years

Methodist Church, Concliffe

2572

27 March 1926

Rev. Samuel Prenter, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	27 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gilliand	Rose Gertrude Ann Ford
	💍 1926/3344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Concliffe
Folio	2572
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Prenter, 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).