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 2167

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar E. C. Butley

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 January 1921

Archibald John Carroll
Maud Mary Brayshaw

Archibald John Carroll
Maud Mary Brayshaw
💍 1921/9722

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher
Clerk

23
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

1 year
21 years

Church of England, Redwoodtown

21/2412

5 January 1921

Rev. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald John Carroll	Maud Mary Brayshaw
	💍 1921/9722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	Clerk
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Redwoodtown
Folio	21/2412
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

18 January 1921

Stanley Mansfield
Konini Crump

Stanley Mansfield
Konini Crump
💍 1921/9723

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
24

Wellington
Blenheim

24 years
3 days

Methodist Church, Blenheim

21/2413

18 January 1921

W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	18 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Mansfield	Konini Crump
	💍 1921/9723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Blenheim
Length of Residence	24 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/2413
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Greenslade, Methodist

20 January 1921

William Augustine Smith
Marjory May Broughan

William Augustine Smith
Marjory May Broughan
💍 1921/9724

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
19

Blenheim
Blenheim

9 years
19 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

21/2414

Frank Broughan, father

20 January 1921

H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	20 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Augustine Smith	Marjory May Broughan
	💍 1921/9724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	9 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/2414
Consent	Frank Broughan, father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

22 January 1921

Kenneth Mitchell
Constance Myrtle Sheridan

Kenneth Mitchell
Constance Myrtle Sheridan
💍 1921/9725

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

22
24

Shannon
Spring Creek

20 years
24 years

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Spring Creek

21/2415

22 January 1921

W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	22 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Mitchell	Constance Myrtle Sheridan
	💍 1921/9725
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Spring Creek
Folio	21/2415
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Wollstein, Church of England

24 January 1921

Herbert Knight
Rene Mary Freeman

Herbert Knight
Rene Mary Freeman
💍 1921/9726

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Duties

22
19

Blenheim
Blenheim

5 years
19 years

Salvation Army Citadel, Blenheim

21/2416

John Jacob Davis Freeman, father

24 January 1921

Adj. R. J. Lamond, Salvation Army

No	5
Date of Notice	24 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Knight	Rene Mary Freeman
	💍 1921/9726
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Citadel, Blenheim
Folio	21/2416
Consent	John Jacob Davis Freeman, father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Adj. R. J. Lamond, Salvation Army

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).