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 2189

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Wairau Registrar H. 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

29 November 1921

Percy Frederick Simmono
Alma Beatrice Border

Percy Frederick Simmons
Alma Beatrice Corder
💍 1921/3948

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic Duties

27
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

years

Church of Nativity Blenheim

10190

29 November 1921

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

No	88
Date of Notice	29 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Frederick Simmono	Alma Beatrice Border
BDM Match (95%)	Percy Frederick Simmons	Alma Beatrice Corder
	💍 1921/3948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence		years
Marriage Place	Church of Nativity Blenheim
Folio	10190
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

7 December 1921

Claude Percival Evelyn Moore
Flora McPherson Nees

Claude Percival Evelyn Moore
Flora McPherson Nees
💍 1921/3949

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Domestic Duties

27
26

Wellington
Okaramio

years
weeks

Residence of Mr. Bhaskees

10191

7 December 1921

Rev. E. Brierly, Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	7 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Percival Evelyn Moore	Flora McPherson Nees
	💍 1921/3949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Okaramio
Length of Residence	years	weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Bhaskees
Folio	10191
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Brierly, Presbyterian

12 December 1921

Patrick James O'Dwyer
Ivy Rosemary Mapp

Patrick James O'Dwyer
Ivy Rosemary Mapp
💍 1921/3950

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

46
22

Blenheim
Blenheim

years
years

Roman Catholic Church

10192

12 December 1921

Rev. H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

No	90
Date of Notice	12 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick James O'Dwyer	Ivy Rosemary Mapp
BDM Match (88%)	Patrick James O'Dwyer	Ivy Rosemary Mapp
	💍 1921/3950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	years	years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	10192
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

19 December 1921

Albert James Darris
Gwendolyn Furness

Albert James Parris
Gwendolyn Furness
💍 1921/3951

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

25
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

years
years

Church of St. Andrew Blenheim

10193

19 December 1921

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

No	91
Date of Notice	19 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Darris	Gwendolyn Furness
BDM Match (97%)	Albert James Parris	Gwendolyn Furness
	💍 1921/3951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	years	years
Marriage Place	Church of St. Andrew Blenheim
Folio	10193
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

21 December 1921

John Smith
Mary Benigna Morrison

John Smith
Mary Benignus Morrison
💍 1922/589

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

31
28

Blenheim
Blenheim

years
years

Roman Catholic Church

102

21 December 1921

Rev. E. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	92
Date of Notice	21 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Mary Benigna Morrison
BDM Match (95%)	John Smith	Mary Benignus Morrison
	💍 1922/589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	years	years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	102
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. 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).