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 2291

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar J. S. Gem

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

3 January 1921

Harry Klenot
Frances Elizabeth Russ

Harry Honor
Frances Elizabeth Russ
💍 1921/9772

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer
Domestic

49
25

Richmond Nelson
Nelson

6 years

Saint Marys Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

2462

3 January 1921

Rev. R. Clay, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Klenot	Frances Elizabeth Russ
BDM Match (83%)	Harry Honor	Frances Elizabeth Russ
	💍 1921/9772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer	Domestic
Age	49	25
Dwelling Place	Richmond Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 years
Marriage Place	Saint Marys Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	2462
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Clay, Roman Catholic

4 January 1921

Hugh Keanot
Marguerita Jane Page

Hugh Manson
Marguerita Irene Page
💍 1921/9773

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

30
24

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
3 years

Christchurch Cathedral, Christchurch

2463

4 January 1921

Rev. G. E. Hicks, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Keanot	Marguerita Jane Page
BDM Match (75%)	Hugh Manson	Marguerita Irene Page
	💍 1921/9773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	2463
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hicks, Church of England

5 January 1921

Herbert Edwin Ellison
Mary Louisa Wilkins

Herbert Edwin Ellison
Mary Louisa Wilkins
💍 1921/9774

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
24

Nelson
Nelson

5 days
24 years

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

2464

5 January 1921

Rev. J. F. Ringrove, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edwin Ellison	Mary Louisa Wilkins
	💍 1921/9774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 days	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	2464
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Ringrove, Church of England

13 January 1921

Henry Moule Ormond Benzoni
Ella Agnes May Miles

Henry Moule Ormond Benzoni
Ella Agnes May Miles
💍 1921/9775

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller
Domestic Duties

42
24

Collingwood
Collingwood

All Saints Church, Collingwood

2465

13 January 1921

Rev. J. F. Ringrove, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Moule Ormond Benzoni	Ella Agnes May Miles
	💍 1921/9775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller	Domestic Duties
Age	42	24
Dwelling Place	Collingwood	Collingwood
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Collingwood
Folio	2465
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Ringrove, Church of England

14 January 1921

William Cecil McMillan
Margaret Octavia Norriss

William Cecil McMillan
Margaret Octavia Norriss
💍 1921/9776

Bachelor
Spinster

Waggoner
Domestic Duties

32
19

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
19 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2466

14 January 1921

W. B. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cecil McMillan	Margaret Octavia Norriss
	💍 1921/9776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waggoner	Domestic Duties
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2466
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1921
Officiating Minister	W. B. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

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).