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 2175

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar C. E. 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

26 April 1921

Charles Blake
Eunice Mary Hulme

Charles Blake
Eunice Mary Hulme
💍 1921/6944

Widower (22/9/1914)
Divorced (4/3/1921)

Farmer
Home Duties

54
52

Onamalutu
Onamalutu

6 years
14 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

21/5147

26 April 1921

Mr. C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages, Wairau

No	33
Date of Notice	26 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Blake	Eunice Mary Hulme
	💍 1921/6944
Condition	Widower (22/9/1914)	Divorced (4/3/1921)
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	54	52
Dwelling Place	Onamalutu	Onamalutu
Length of Residence	6 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio	21/5147
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. C. E. Butcher, Registrar of Marriages, Wairau

27 April 1921

Richard Stevens Webb
Eva Roseline Gledhill

Richard Stevens Webb
Eva Roseline Gledhill
💍 1921/6945

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
18

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
6 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

21/5148

Henry George Gledhill, Father

27 April 1921

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	27 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Stevens Webb	Eva Roseline Gledhill
	💍 1921/6945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5148
Consent	Henry George Gledhill, Father
Date of Certificate	27 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

27 April 1921

Eric Swanson Frost
Marie Morton Lightfoot

Eric Swanson Frost
Marie Morton Lightfoot
💍 1921/6946

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Manager
Home Duties

38
25

Blenheim
Blenheim

1 day
7 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

21/5149

27 April 1921

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

No	35
Date of Notice	27 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Swanson Frost	Marie Morton Lightfoot
	💍 1921/6946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Manager	Home Duties
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	1 day	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	21/5149
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

29 April 1921

William George Frederick Pinkham
Marjorie Carvell Simson

William George Frederick Pinkham
Marjorie Carvell Simson
💍 1921/6947

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Shop Assistant

25
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

1 year 8 months
20 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

21/5150

James Simson, Father

29 April 1921

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	29 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Frederick Pinkham	Marjorie Carvell Simson
	💍 1921/6947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Shop Assistant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	1 year 8 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5150
Consent	James Simson, Father
Date of Certificate	29 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

2 May 1921

Horace John Bain
Winifred Krahagen

Horace John Bain
Winifred Krahagen
💍 1921/6955

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 days
2 months

Methodist Church, Blenheim

21/5151

2 May 1921

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace John Bain	Winifred Krahagen
	💍 1921/6955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5151
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, 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).

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).