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 Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar S. Tyson

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 Pina
Doris May Beattie

Albion Lawrence De Pina
Doris May Beattie
💍 1921/9815

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Waitress

27
23

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
4 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

21/2481

26 February 1921

C. E. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	26 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albion Lawrence De Pina	Doris May Beattie
	💍 1921/9815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Waitress
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	21/2481
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1921
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

28 February 1921

Edward Hands
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

21/2482

28 February 1921

S. Tyson, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	28 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Hands	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	21/2482
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1921
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar

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
12 years

Congregational Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

21/2483

1 March 1921

Mr. Thomas Vercoe, 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	12 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	21/2483
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. Thomas Vercoe, Congregational Minister

3 March 1921

Philip Henry Charles Way
Olive Rose Manning

Philip Henry Charlies Way
Olive Rose Manning
💍 1921/9818

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory hand
Domestic duties

21
24

Nelson
Nelson

21 years
23 years

Dwelling of Mr. Frank Manning, Waimea Street, Nelson

21/2484

3 March 1921

Rev. John Laird, Baptist

No	23
Date of Notice	3 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Henry Charles Way	Olive Rose Manning
BDM Match (98%)	Philip Henry Charlies Way	Olive Rose Manning
	💍 1921/9818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory hand	Domestic duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	21 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Frank Manning, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	21/2484
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
21 years

Dwelling of Robert Louisson, Waimea Street, Nelson

21/2485

James Carter 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	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Robert Louisson, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	21/2485
Consent	James Carter 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)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).