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 2313

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. Fyans

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 October 1921

Ralph Bernard Newport
Edith Maythe Forster

Ralph Bernard Newport
Edith Myrtle Forster
💍 1921/3979

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop Assistant

23
20

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
3 years

St Johns Methodist Church Hardy Street Nelson

10220

3 October 1921

Rev H. L. Blamires, Methodist

No	96
Date of Notice	3 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Bernard Newport	Edith Maythe Forster
BDM Match (93%)	Ralph Bernard Newport	Edith Myrtle Forster
	💍 1921/3979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop Assistant
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Methodist Church Hardy Street Nelson
Folio	10220
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H. L. Blamires, Methodist

8 October 1921

Archie Renwick
Dulcie Lilian Ethel Kingett

Archie Renwick
Dulcie Lilian Ethel Kinzett
💍 1921/3980

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
23

Nelson
Nelson

7 years
7 years

All Saints Church Vanguard Street Nelson

10221

8 October 1921

Rev H. Pawing-Rowe, Church of England

No	98
Date of Notice	8 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archie Renwick	Dulcie Lilian Ethel Kingett
BDM Match (98%)	Archie Renwick	Dulcie Lilian Ethel Kinzett
	💍 1921/3980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Vanguard Street Nelson
Folio	10221
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Pawing-Rowe, Church of England

11 October 1921

John Joyce
Charlotte Newport

John Hayes
Charlotte Newport
💍 1921/3981

Widower
Widow

Factory Hand
Domestic duties

63
60

Nelson
Nelson

20 years
14 February 1920

10222

11 October 1921

Rev H. G. Weeks, Church of England

No	99
Date of Notice	11 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joyce	Charlotte Newport
BDM Match (80%)	John Hayes	Charlotte Newport
	💍 1921/3981
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Factory Hand	Domestic duties
Age	63	60
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	20 years	14 February 1920
Marriage Place
Folio	10222
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Weeks, Church of England

100

18 October 1921

Bernard William Linton
Madge Batcholor

Leonard William Linton
Madge Batchelor
💍 1921/3982

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop Assistant

25
21

Maitai Nelson
Nelson

Dwelling of Rev H. G. Blamires

10223

18 October 1921

Rev H. G. Blamires, Methodist

No	100
Date of Notice	18 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard William Linton	Madge Batcholor
BDM Match (92%)	Leonard William Linton	Madge Batchelor
	💍 1921/3982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop Assistant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Maitai Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Rev H. G. Blamires
Folio	10223
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blamires, Methodist

1 October 1921

Albert George
Nancy Mary Elizabeth Bush

Albert George Nancarrow
Cicely Mary Elizabeth Bush
💍 1921/3977

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

30
22

Nelson
Nelson

2½ years
1 year

Christchurch Cathedral

10219

1 October 1921

Rev H. L. Weeks, Church of England

No
Date of Notice	1 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George	Nancy Mary Elizabeth Bush
BDM Match (69%)	Albert George Nancarrow	Cicely Mary Elizabeth Bush
	💍 1921/3977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2½ years	1 year
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral
Folio	10219
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H. L. Weeks, Church of England

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).

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).