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 2295

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. Lyons

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 February 1921

Albion Lawrence De Gia
Doris May Beattie

Albion Lawrence De Pina
Doris May Beattie
💍 1921/9815

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Waitress

24
23

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
4 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2481

26 February 1921

B. E. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	26 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albion Lawrence De Gia	Doris May Beattie
BDM Match (96%)	Albion Lawrence De Pina	Doris May Beattie
	💍 1921/9815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Waitress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2481
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1921
Officiating Minister	B. E. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

28 February 1921

Edward Bands
Rebecca Stevens Morris

Edward Dando
Rebecca Stevens Morris
💍 1921/9816

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

25
24

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2482

28 February 1921

No	21
Date of Notice	28 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bands	Rebecca Stevens Morris
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Dando	Rebecca Stevens Morris
	💍 1921/9816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2482
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1921
Officiating Minister

1 March 1921

Norman Alfred Barnett
Frances Alice Riley

Norman Alfred Barnett
Frances Alice Riley
💍 1921/9817

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
10 years

Congregational Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

2483

1 March 1921

Rev. Thomas Neave, Congregational Minister

No	22
Date of Notice	1 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Alfred Barnett	Frances Alice Riley
	💍 1921/9817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	2483
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Neave, Congregational Minister

3 March 1921

Philip Henry Charlton
Olive Rose Hanning

Philip Henry Charlies Way
Olive Rose Manning
💍 1921/9818

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory hand

21
24

Nelson
Nelson

2 years
23 years

Dwelling of Robert Hanning, 9 Crimea Street, Nelson

2484

3 March 1921

Rev. John Laird, Baptist

No	23
Date of Notice	3 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Henry Charlton	Olive Rose Hanning
BDM Match (83%)	Philip Henry Charlies Way	Olive Rose Manning
	💍 1921/9818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory hand
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Robert Hanning, 9 Crimea Street, Nelson
Folio	2484
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Laird, Baptist

8 March 1921

Kenneth James McClymont
Ethel Minnie Louisson

Kenneth James McClymont
Ethel Minnie Louisson
💍 1921/9819

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway clerk
Shop Assistant

20
21

Nelson
Nelson

11 months
4 years

Dwelling of Robert Louisson, 9 Crimea Street, Nelson

2485

James McClymont, Father

8 March 1921

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	8 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth James McClymont	Ethel Minnie Louisson
	💍 1921/9819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway clerk	Shop Assistant
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	11 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Robert Louisson, 9 Crimea Street, Nelson
Folio	2485
Consent	James McClymont, Father
Date of Certificate	8 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

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).