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 2382

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1926 Registrar [illegible]

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

23 July 1926

John William Clifford Duncan
Trixie Gertrude Ricketts

John William Clifford Duncan
Trixie Gertrude Ricketts
💍 1926/5839

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic

25
27

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
3 days

Registrar's Office, Nelson

7616

23 July 1926

Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

No	60
Date of Notice	23 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Clifford Duncan	Trixie Gertrude Ricketts
	💍 1926/5839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	7616
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

23 July 1926

Henry Claude Clark
Ivey Louisa Moulder

Henry Claude Clark
Ivy Louisa Moulder
💍 1926/5840

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

26
31

Nelson
Nelson

30 years
31 years

The Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

7617

23 July 1926

Rev R. J. Hoare

No	61
Date of Notice	23 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Claude Clark	Ivey Louisa Moulder
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Claude Clark	Ivy Louisa Moulder
	💍 1926/5840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	30 years	31 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	7617
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev R. J. Hoare

24 July 1926

Alexander Donald Hartwig
Sylvia Evelyn Margaret Woodhouse

Alexander Donald Hartwig
Sylvia Evelyn Margaret Woodhouse
💍 1926/5841

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

20
21

Nelson
Nelson

20 years
5 years

Residence of Mr H. W. Hartwig, Brougham Street, Nelson

7618

Henry William Hartwig, father

24 July 1926

Rev J. McNeill, Presbyterian

No	62
Date of Notice	24 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Donald Hartwig	Sylvia Evelyn Margaret Woodhouse
	💍 1926/5841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H. W. Hartwig, Brougham Street, Nelson
Folio	7618
Consent	Henry William Hartwig, father
Date of Certificate	24 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev J. McNeill, Presbyterian

9 August 1926

Robert Andrew Lilley
Clarice Daphne Bolton

Robert Andrew Lilley
Clarice Daphne Bolton
💍 1926/5842

Widower
Spinster

Dairy Factory Foreman
Domestic

36
34

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
34 years

All Saints Church of England, Nelson

7619

9 August 1926

Rev John R. Dart, Church of England

No	63
Date of Notice	9 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Andrew Lilley	Clarice Daphne Bolton
	💍 1926/5842
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Foreman	Domestic
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	34 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Nelson
Folio	7619
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev John R. Dart, Church of England

10 August 1926

Thomas Dennis
Catherine Annie Tomlinson

Thomas Dennis
Catherine Annie Tomlinson
💍 1926/5844

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

28
19

Nelson
Nelson

1 week
1 week

Registrar's Office, Nelson

7620

Jessie Tomlinson, mother

10 August 1926

Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

No	64
Date of Notice	10 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Dennis	Catherine Annie Tomlinson
	💍 1926/5844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	7620
Consent	Jessie Tomlinson, mother
Date of Certificate	10 August 1926
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

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).