Intentions to Marry, 1926 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840542, 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.

1926g contains pages 2769-3198, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2802

District of Kaiapoi Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar J. H. Blackwell

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

25 February 1926

Robert Malcolm Lucas
Muriel Esther Brockelbank

Robert Malcolm Lucas
Muriel Esther Brockelbank
💍 1926/3358

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

24
24

Christchurch
Kaiapoi

2 years
24 years

Residence of Mrs. L. Brockelbank, High Street, Kaiapoi

2593

25 February 1926

Rev. G. K. Aitken, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	25 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Malcolm Lucas	Muriel Esther Brockelbank
	💍 1926/3358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. L. Brockelbank, High Street, Kaiapoi
Folio	2593
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Aitken, Presbyterian

9 March 1926

Cecil George Green
Audrey Beryl Wright

Cecil George Green
Audrey Beryl Wright
💍 1926/3359

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand
Drapers Assistant

21
19

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

21 years
19 years

Church of England, Kaiapoi

2594

Edwin John Wright, father

9 March 1926

Rev. J. T. Paddison, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	9 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil George Green	Audrey Beryl Wright
	💍 1926/3359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand	Drapers Assistant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kaiapoi
Folio	2594
Consent	Edwin John Wright, father
Date of Certificate	9 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Paddison, Anglican

17 March 1926

John Thomas Wilding
Agnes Bevis

John Thomas Wilding
Agnes Bevis
💍 1926/3360

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
34

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

4 days
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Kaiapoi

2595

17 March 1926

Rev. G. K. Aitken, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	17 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Wilding	Agnes Bevis
	💍 1926/3360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	2595
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Aitken, Presbyterian

25 March 1926

Hector McDonald Yaxley
May Louisa Eliza Eder

Hector McDonald Yaxley
May Louisa Eliza Eder
💍 1926/3361

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
22

Woodend
Woodend

17 years
22 years

St. Barnabas Church, Woodend

2596

25 March 1926

Rev. J. T. Paddison, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	25 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector McDonald Yaxley	May Louisa Eliza Eder
	💍 1926/3361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Woodend	Woodend
Length of Residence	17 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Woodend
Folio	2596
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Paddison, Anglican

29 March 1926

Montague Sandford Pollard
Rita May Monk

Montagae Sandford Pollard
Rita May Monk
💍 1926/2177

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Dressmaker

27
28

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

4 years
28 years

Methodist Church, Kaiapoi

2597

29 March 1926

Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	29 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Montague Sandford Pollard	Rita May Monk
BDM Match (98%)	Montagae Sandford Pollard	Rita May Monk
	💍 1926/2177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	4 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Kaiapoi
Folio	2597
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Slade, Methodist

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).