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 2307

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 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

2 July 1921

Charles Wyndham Jones
Mello Ianthena Lukins

Charles Wyndham Jones
Melo Ianthena Lukins
💍 1921/4374

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic duties

39
28

Nelson
Nelson

9 years
28 years

All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

21/7693

2 July 1921

Rev. F. Pring Rowe, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	2 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Wyndham Jones	Mello Ianthena Lukins
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Wyndham Jones	Melo Ianthena Lukins
	💍 1921/4374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic duties
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 years	28 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	21/7693
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Pring Rowe, Church of England

4 July 1921

Douglas Hugh Bryant Vercoe
Dorothy Eveline Thomas

Douglas Hugh Bryant Vercoe
Dorothy Eveline Thomas
💍 1921/4375

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Domestic duties

22
17

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
17 years

Methodist Parsonage, Hardy Street, Nelson

21/7694

Wilfred Ernest Thomas, father

4 July 1921

Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

No	41
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Hugh Bryant Vercoe	Dorothy Eveline Thomas
	💍 1921/4375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Domestic duties
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	21/7694
Consent	Wilfred Ernest Thomas, father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

5 July 1921

Albert Gordon Rabbits
Mabel Annie Teddy

Albert Gordon Rabbits
Mabel Annie Teddy
💍 1921/4377

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
Domestic duties

23
24

Blenheim
Nelson

9 months
16 months

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

21/7695

5 July 1921

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Gordon Rabbits	Mabel Annie Teddy
	💍 1921/4377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 months	16 months
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	21/7695
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

7 July 1921

Frederick Harry Gribble
Cathrin May Menzies

Fredrick Harry Gribble
Cathrin May Menzies
💍 1921/3544

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic duties

22
26

Stoke
Stoke

22 years
6 years

Dwelling of Mr. James Gribble, Stoke

21/8187

7 July 1921

Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	7 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Harry Gribble	Cathrin May Menzies
BDM Match (98%)	Fredrick Harry Gribble	Cathrin May Menzies
	💍 1921/3544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic duties
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. James Gribble, Stoke
Folio	21/8187
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England

11 July 1921

Patrick Vaughan
Ruby Turner

Patrick Vaughan
Ruby Turner
💍 1921/4378

Widower (24-11-1912)
Spinster

Butcher
Lady Help

50
39

Nelson
Nelson

40 years
35 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

21/7696

11 July 1921

Rev. D. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Vaughan	Ruby Turner
	💍 1921/4378
Condition	Widower (24-11-1912)	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Lady Help
Age	50	39
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	40 years	35 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	21/7696
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

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).