Intentions to Marry, 1921 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840501, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921f contains pages 2143-2690, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2161

District of Picton Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar H. F. Donald

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 April 1921

Robbie Murray Gregg
Dorothy Freda North

Robbie Murray Gregg
Dorothy Freda North
💍 1921/6950

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Switchboard Attendant

23
23

Picton
Picton

2 days
Life

Church of England, Picton

21/5130

5 April 1921

Rev. D. Canon Quintrell, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	5 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robbie Murray Gregg	Dorothy Freda North
	💍 1921/6950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Switchboard Attendant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	2 days	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Picton
Folio	21/5130
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Canon Quintrell, Church of England

12 May 1921

Richard William McArthur Wratt
Veronica Baden Gould

Richard William McArthur Wratt
Veronica Baden Gould
💍 1921/6951

Bachelor
Spinster

Maltster
Clerk

27
20

Picton
Picton

17 Months
19 Months

St Josephs Catholic Church, Picton

21/5131

Anaie Elizabeth Gould, Mother

12 May 1921

Rev. Father Heffernan, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	12 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard William McArthur Wratt	Veronica Baden Gould
	💍 1921/6951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Maltster	Clerk
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	17 Months	19 Months
Marriage Place	St Josephs Catholic Church, Picton
Folio	21/5131
Consent	Anaie Elizabeth Gould, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Heffernan, Roman Catholic

18 May 1921

James Amos Breayley
Lilian Edith Chambers

James Amos Breayley
Lilian Edith Chambers
💍 1921/6952

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

33
28

Picton
Picton

3 years
13 years

Church of Nativity, Picton

21/5132

18 May 1921

Rev. Canon Quintrell, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	18 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Amos Breayley	Lilian Edith Chambers
	💍 1921/6952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	3 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Church of Nativity, Picton
Folio	21/5132
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Quintrell, Church of England

21 May 1921

Henry Aubry
Christine Annie Framy

Henry Aubry
Christine Annie Ivamy
💍 1921/6953

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Shop Assistant

36
25

Palmerston North
Picton

4 days
7 years

Holy Trinity Church, Picton

21/5133

21 May 1921

Rev. Canon Quintrell, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	21 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Aubry	Christine Annie Framy
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Aubry	Christine Annie Ivamy
	💍 1921/6953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Shop Assistant
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Picton
Length of Residence	4 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Picton
Folio	21/5133
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Quintrell, Church of England

31 May 1921

William John Campbell Patterson
Florence Jane Curnow

William John Campbell Patterson
Florence Jane Curnow
💍 1921/6954

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
21

Picton
Picton

12 years
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Picton

21/5134

31 May 1921

Rev. Canon Quintrell, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	31 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Campbell Patterson	Florence Jane Curnow
	💍 1921/6954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	12 years	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Picton
Folio	21/5134
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Quintrell, Church of England

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).