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 Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 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

29 November 1921

Percy Frederick Simmons
Alma Beatrice Corder

Percy Frederick Simmons
Alma Beatrice Corder
💍 1921/3948

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic Duties

27
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

27 years
24 years

Church of the Nativity Blenheim

21/10190

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 Simmons	Alma Beatrice Corder
	💍 1921/3948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	27 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity Blenheim
Folio	21/10190
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

27 years
2 weeks

Residence of Mr. Chas Nees, Okaramio

21/10191

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	27 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Chas Nees, Okaramio
Folio	21/10191
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
27

Blenheim
Blenheim

46 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

21/10192

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
	💍 1921/3950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	27
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	46 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/10192
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

19 December 1921

Albert James Parris
Gwendolyn Furness

Albert James Parris
Gwendolyn Furness
💍 1921/3951

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

25
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 years
26 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

21/10193

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 Parris	Gwendolyn Furness
	💍 1921/3951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	21/10193
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

21 December 1921

John Smith
Mary Benignus Morrison

John Smith
Mary Benignus Morrison
💍 1922/589

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

31
28

Blenheim
Blenheim

15 years
28 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

22/102

21 December 1921

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	92
Date of Notice	21 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Mary Benignus Morrison
	💍 1922/589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	15 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	22/102
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).