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 2305

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. Fy[s]on

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

24 May 1921

Roy Reginald Schroder
Alice Ann Kerr

Roy Reginald Schroder
Alice Ann Kerr
💍 1921/7014

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

20
18

Tahuna, Nelson
Tahuna, Nelson

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Nelson

5218

Charles Henry Schroder, Father (Groom); Richard Kerr, Father (Bride)

24 May 1921

S. Tysons. / Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	24 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Reginald Schroder	Alice Ann Kerr
	💍 1921/7014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Tahuna, Nelson	Tahuna, Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Nelson
Folio	5218
Consent	Charles Henry Schroder, Father (Groom); Richard Kerr, Father (Bride)
Date of Certificate	24 May 1921
Officiating Minister	S. Tysons. / Registrar

1 June 1921

William Edward Bullmore
Violet Barker

William Edward Bullmore
Violet Barker
💍 1921/7015

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Laundress

26
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 months
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

5219

10 June 1921

Rev. G. W. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	62
Date of Notice	1 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Bullmore	Violet Barker
	💍 1921/7015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Laundress
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	5219
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Gibb, Presbyterian

6 June 1921

Dennis Breen
Grace Mary James

Dennis Breen
Grace Mary Janes
💍 1921/7017

Bachelor
Spinster

Carman
Housemaid

28
24

Nelson
Nelson

5 months
19 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson

5220

6 June 1921

Rev. R. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	6 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dennis Breen	Grace Mary James
BDM Match (97%)	Dennis Breen	Grace Mary Janes
	💍 1921/7017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carman	Housemaid
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Nelson
Folio	5220
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

14 June 1921

Percy Lynch Jackson
Euphrenia Page

Percy Lionel Jackson
Euphemia Bagust
💍 1921/7018

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housemaid

32
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Nelson

5221

14 June 1921

B. B. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

No	64
Date of Notice	14 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Lynch Jackson	Euphrenia Page
BDM Match (70%)	Percy Lionel Jackson	Euphemia Bagust
	💍 1921/7018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housemaid
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Nelson
Folio	5221
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1921
Officiating Minister	B. B. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

14 June 1921

Thomas Buller Blanchette
Blanche Kathleen May Bensman

Thomas Buller Blanchette
Kathleen May Bensemann
💍 1921/7019

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
21

Nelson
Nelson

19 years

Office of the Registrar, Nelson

5222

14 June 1921

B. B. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

No	65
Date of Notice	14 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Buller Blanchette	Blanche Kathleen May Bensman
BDM Match (82%)	Thomas Buller Blanchette	Kathleen May Bensemann
	💍 1921/7019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	19 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Nelson
Folio	5222
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1921
Officiating Minister	B. 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).