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 2315

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar E. G. Syms

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

106

29 October 1921

George William Start
Mary Morrison Kutherington

George William Hart
Mary Morrison Hetherington
💍 1921/4011

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

28
25

Nelson
Nelson

28 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church Nile Street Nelson

10229

29 October 1921

Rev. G. B. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	106
Date of Notice	29 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Start	Mary Morrison Kutherington
BDM Match (91%)	George William Hart	Mary Morrison Hetherington
	💍 1921/4011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	28 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Nile Street Nelson
Folio	10229
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Gibb, Presbyterian

107

31 October 1921

Henry Cecil Wilson
Olive Keziah Talbot

Henry Cecil Wilson
Olive Keziah Talbot
💍 1921/4012

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
23

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
23 years

All Saints Church

10230

31 October 1921

Rev. F. Bing Rowe, Church of England

No	107
Date of Notice	31 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Cecil Wilson	Olive Keziah Talbot
	💍 1921/4012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	10230
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Bing Rowe, Church of England

108

31 October 1921

Ernest Charles Sheal
Daisy Ella Chisnall

Ernest Charles Cheel
Daisy Ella Chisnall
💍 1921/4013

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Domestic duties

24
24

Wellington
Nelson

6 years
10 days

St. John's Methodist Church Hardy Street Nelson

10231

31 October 1921

Rev. H. H. Blamires, Methodist

No	108
Date of Notice	31 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Charles Sheal	Daisy Ella Chisnall
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Charles Cheel	Daisy Ella Chisnall
	💍 1921/4013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 years	10 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church Hardy Street Nelson
Folio	10231
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Blamires, Methodist

109

15 November 1921

Harold Thomas Young
Ida Fanselow

Harold Thomas Young
Ida Fanselow
💍 1921/4014

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

20
21

Nelson
Richmond

20 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson

10232

Charles Walter Young, Guardian

15 November 1921

J. Syron, Registrar

No	109
Date of Notice	15 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Thomas Young	Ida Fanselow
	💍 1921/4014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Richmond
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson
Folio	10232
Consent	Charles Walter Young, Guardian
Date of Certificate	15 November 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Syron, Registrar

110

3 November 1921

Leslie William Lockyer
Maude Rita Faulding

Leslie William Lockyer
Maude Rita Faulding
💍 1921/4015

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

22
24

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
6 months

Christchurch Cathedral

10233

3 November 1921

Rev. H. B. Weeks, Church of England

No	110
Date of Notice	3 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie William Lockyer	Maude Rita Faulding
	💍 1921/4015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral
Folio	10233
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Weeks, Church of England

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).