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 2173

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar P. 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

1 April 1921

Norman Stuart Moore
Olive Ella Ching

Norman Stuart Moore
Olive Ella Ching
💍 1921/6933

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Home Duties

26
30

Blenheim
Blenheim

26 years
30 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

21/5137

1 April 1921

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

No	23
Date of Notice	1 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Stuart Moore	Olive Ella Ching
	💍 1921/6933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Home Duties
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	26 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	21/5137
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archd. G. W. York, Church of England

1 April 1921

Cecil Harold Mills
Jessie Mills Annand

Cecil Harold Mills
Jessie Mills Annand
💍 1921/6934

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Home Duties

27
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

2 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

21/5138

1 April 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	1 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Harold Mills	Jessie Mills Annand
	💍 1921/6934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Home Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5138
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

2 April 1921

Glencoe Talano Patchett
Doris Emily Henrietta Haines

Glencoe Talano Patchett
Doris Emily Henrietta Haines
💍 1921/6935

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

21
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

21 years
20 years

Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands

21/5139

Charles William Haines, Father

2 April 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	2 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Glencoe Talano Patchett	Doris Emily Henrietta Haines
	💍 1921/6935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands
Folio	21/5139
Consent	Charles William Haines, Father
Date of Certificate	2 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

6 April 1921

John Ernest Bell
Annie Fulton Pattie

John Ernest Bell
Annie Fulton Pattie
💍 1921/6936

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

38
33

Ward
Blenheim

15 years
33 years

Residence of Mrs. M. M. Pattie, Springlands

21/5140

6 April 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	6 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Bell	Annie Fulton Pattie
	💍 1921/6936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Ward	Blenheim
Length of Residence	15 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. M. M. Pattie, Springlands
Folio	21/5140
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

13 April 1921

Alexander Farquhar Forsyth
Hannah O'Shea

Alexander Farquhar Forsyth
Hannah O'Shea
💍 1921/6937

Widower (7/9/1907)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

47
23

Ward
Ward

10 years
10 years

Catholic Church, Blenheim

21/5141

13 April 1921

Rev. Father C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	13 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Farquhar Forsyth	Hannah O'Shea
	💍 1921/6937
Condition	Widower (7/9/1907)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	47	23
Dwelling Place	Ward	Ward
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5141
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

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).