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 2225

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar S. Ayling

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

11 November 1921

Richard Joseph Kilkenny
Alice Mary Wybrot

Richard Joseph Kilkenny
Alice Mary Wybrot
💍 1921/3959

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Servant

25
21

Westport
Westport

8 years
9 months

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

21/10200

11 November 1921

Rev. Broughton, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	11 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Joseph Kilkenny	Alice Mary Wybrot
	💍 1921/3959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Servant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	8 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	21/10200
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Broughton, Roman Catholic

21 November 1921

Robert Edgar White
Beatrice May Luff

Robert Edgar White
Beatrice May Luff
💍 1921/3967

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic
Servant

25
19

Sergeants Hill
Sergeants Hill

Life
Life

Residence of J. Luff, Sergeants Hill

21/10201

John Luff, Father

21 November 1921

Rev. Tooley, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	21 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edgar White	Beatrice May Luff
	💍 1921/3967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic	Servant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Sergeants Hill	Sergeants Hill
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Luff, Sergeants Hill
Folio	21/10201
Consent	John Luff, Father
Date of Certificate	21 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tooley, Church of England

28 November 1921

Robert John Stuart
Vernice Ruby Nicholls

Robert John Stuart
Vernice Ruby Nicholls
💍 1921/3978

Widower (14-7-18)
Spinster

Saw-miller
Shop Assistant

34
24

Inangahua Junction
Inangahua Junction

6 months
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Westport

21/10202

28 November 1921

S. Ayling, Registrar

No	32
Date of Notice	28 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Stuart	Vernice Ruby Nicholls
	💍 1921/3978
Condition	Widower (14-7-18)	Spinster
Profession	Saw-miller	Shop Assistant
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Inangahua Junction	Inangahua Junction
Length of Residence	6 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Westport
Folio	21/10202
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1921
Officiating Minister	S. Ayling, Registrar

12 December 1921

William Henry Herbert Webb
May Gertrude Fryer

William Henry Herbert Webb
May Gertrude Fryer
💍 1921/3985

Bachelor
Spinster

Trucker
Domestic duties

30
26

Mangatina
Westport

8 months
5 months

St. John's Church of England, Westport

21/10203

12 December 1921

Rev. J. F. Coursey, Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	12 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Herbert Webb	May Gertrude Fryer
	💍 1921/3985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trucker	Domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Mangatina	Westport
Length of Residence	8 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England, Westport
Folio	21/10203
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Coursey, Church of England

16 December 1921

Samuel Frickleton
Valeska Yembitsky

Samuel Frickleton
Valeska Gembitsky
💍 1922/609

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Clerk

30
27

Westport
Westport

1 1/2 years
20 years

Church of England, Westport

22/106

16 December 1921

Rev. J. F. Coursey, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	16 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Frickleton	Valeska Yembitsky
BDM Match (97%)	Samuel Frickleton	Valeska Gembitsky
	💍 1922/609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Clerk
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	22/106
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Coursey, Church of England

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).