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 2378

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1926 Registrar J. Mitchell

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

28 May 1926

Christopher Pahl
Ethelwyn Eldridge Richardson

Christopher Pahl
Ethelwyn Eldridge Richardson
💍 1926/4993

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

42
41

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
12 months

Office of the Registrar, Nelson

5214

28 May 1926

J. Mitchell, Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	28 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Pahl	Ethelwyn Eldridge Richardson
	💍 1926/4993
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	42	41
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Nelson
Folio	5214
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1926
Officiating Minister	J. Mitchell, Registrar

31 May 1926

Archibald Morley Grooby
Mary Stevens

Archibald Morely Grooby
Mary Stevens
💍 1926/4994

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Domestic

31
27

Nelson
Nelson

8 years
2 months

All Saints Church of England, Nelson

5215

31 May 1926

Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	31 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Morley Grooby	Mary Stevens
BDM Match (96%)	Archibald Morely Grooby	Mary Stevens
	💍 1926/4994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Domestic
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	8 years	2 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Nelson
Folio	5215
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

31 May 1926

Edward James Burn
Alice Matilda Hannam

Edward James Curry
Alice Matilda Harrison
💍 1926/4995

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Music Teacher

21
22

Nelson
Nelson

12 years
7 years

Residence of Mrs. McEwan, Gloucester Street, Nelson

5216

31 May 1926

Rev. J. Ralph, Congregational

No	42
Date of Notice	31 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Burn	Alice Matilda Hannam
BDM Match (78%)	Edward James Curry	Alice Matilda Harrison
	💍 1926/4995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Music Teacher
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. McEwan, Gloucester Street, Nelson
Folio	5216
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ralph, Congregational

1 June 1926

Wilson Edward Westley
Ivy Myrtle Hunter

Wilson Edward Westley
Ivy Myrtle Hunter
💍 1926/4996

Bachelor
Spinster

Tomato Grower
Domestic

22
25

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
20 years

Church of Christ, Nelson

5217

1 June 1926

Mr. G. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

No	43
Date of Notice	1 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilson Edward Westley	Ivy Myrtle Hunter
	💍 1926/4996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tomato Grower	Domestic
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Nelson
Folio	5217
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. Fitzgerald, Church of Christ

2 June 1926

Eric Sidney Blincoe
Vera Isabella Ferguson

Eric Sidney Blincoe
Vera Isabella Ferguson
💍 1926/4997

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
24

Tahunanui
Nelson

24 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar, Nelson

5218

2 June 1926

J. Mitchell, Registrar

No	44
Date of Notice	2 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Sidney Blincoe	Vera Isabella Ferguson
	💍 1926/4997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Tahunanui	Nelson
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Nelson
Folio	5218
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1926
Officiating Minister	J. Mitchell, Registrar

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).