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 2169

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar C. B. Butcher

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

3 February 1921

Edwin Norman Hale
Maria Gwen Richardson

Edwin Norman Hale
Maria Gwen Richardson
💍 1921/9733

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman
Domestic Duties

29
22

Blenheim
Blenheim

29 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

21/2422

3 February 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	3 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Norman Hale	Maria Gwen Richardson
	💍 1921/9733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	29 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/2422
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

11 February 1921

Walter Lawrence Adams
Eveline Emma Taplin

Walter Lawrence Adams
Eveline Emma Taplin
💍 1921/9734

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
21

Grovetown
Blenheim

21 years
10 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

21/2423

11 February 1921

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

No	12
Date of Notice	11 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Lawrence Adams	Eveline Emma Taplin
	💍 1921/9734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Blenheim
Length of Residence	21 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	21/2423
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

12 February 1921

Alvin Leslie Bowser
Violet Guard

Alvin Leslie Bowser
Violet Guard
💍 1921/9735

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic Duties

30
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

30 years
5 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

21/2424

12 February 1921

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

No	13
Date of Notice	12 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alvin Leslie Bowser	Violet Guard
	💍 1921/9735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic Duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	30 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	21/2424
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

19 February 1921

Stuart Freeth
Myrtle Ada Robinson

Stuart Freeth
Myrtle Ada Robinson
💍 1921/9736

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
18

Tua Marina
Tua Marina

1 week
18 years

Methodist Church, Tua Marina

21/2425

Albert Robinson, father

19 February 1921

Rev. H. Ryan, Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	19 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stuart Freeth	Myrtle Ada Robinson
	💍 1921/9736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Tua Marina	Tua Marina
Length of Residence	1 week	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Tua Marina
Folio	21/2425
Consent	Albert Robinson, father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Ryan, Methodist

21 February 1921

Norman Clarence Rowe
Dorothy Webster Harding

Norman Clarence Rowe
Dorothy Webster Harding
💍 1921/9737

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Typiste

26
25

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

21/2426

21 February 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Clarence Rowe	Dorothy Webster Harding
	💍 1921/9737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Typiste
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/2426
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

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).