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 2357

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Waimea South Registrar E. E. Eves

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

15 April 1921

Aaron Gordon Horton
Olive Francis Gibbs

Aaron Gordon Ilton
Olive Florence Gibbs
💍 1921/832

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Servant

26
24

Wakefield
Wakefield

3 days
23 years

St Johns Church, Wakefield

5236

15 April 1921

Francis J. Daynes

No	2
Date of Notice	15 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aaron Gordon Horton	Olive Francis Gibbs
BDM Match (80%)	Aaron Gordon Ilton	Olive Florence Gibbs
	💍 1921/832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Servant
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Wakefield
Folio	5236
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Francis J. Daynes

25 May 1921

Albert Bernard Doctor
Ivy Elizabeth Davies

Albert Bernard Hocton
Ivy Elizabeth Davies
💍 1921/833

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

23
24

Dovedale
Springgrove

23 yrs
24 yrs

Church of Christ, Dovedale

5237

5 May 1921

F. J. Daynes

No	3
Date of Notice	25 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Bernard Doctor	Ivy Elizabeth Davies
BDM Match (95%)	Albert Bernard Hocton	Ivy Elizabeth Davies
	💍 1921/833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Dovedale	Springgrove
Length of Residence	23 yrs	24 yrs
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Dovedale
Folio	5237
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1921
Officiating Minister	F. J. Daynes

13 May 1921

Percy John Challis
Mabel Kathleen Green

Percy John Challies
Mabel Kathleen Green
💍 1921/834

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

25
23

Appleby
Brightwater

25 yrs
23 yrs

St Pauls Church, Brightwater

5238

13 May 1921

J. P. Kempthorne

No	4
Date of Notice	13 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy John Challis	Mabel Kathleen Green
BDM Match (97%)	Percy John Challies	Mabel Kathleen Green
	💍 1921/834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Appleby	Brightwater
Length of Residence	25 yrs	23 yrs
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Brightwater
Folio	5238
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1921
Officiating Minister	J. P. Kempthorne

27 May 1921

Frederick James Roulston
Laura Irene Kelly

Frederick James Styles
Laura Irene Kelling
💍 1921/835

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

28
20

Wakefield
Wakefield

3 weeks
6 months

St Johns Church, Wakefield

5239

27 May 1921

F. J. Daynes

No	5
Date of Notice	27 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Roulston	Laura Irene Kelly
BDM Match (78%)	Frederick James Styles	Laura Irene Kelling
	💍 1921/835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Wakefield
Folio	5239
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1921
Officiating Minister	F. J. Daynes

6 June 1921

Stanley John McKenzie
Eva Flora Banger

Stanley John McKenzie
Eva Llorna Baigent
💍 1921/836

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
School Teacher

25
23

Foxhill
Foxhill

3 days
6 years

St Lukes Church, Foxhill

5240

6 June 1921

F. J. Daynes

No	6
Date of Notice	6 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley John McKenzie	Eva Flora Banger
BDM Match (86%)	Stanley John McKenzie	Eva Llorna Baigent
	💍 1921/836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	School Teacher
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Foxhill	Foxhill
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church, Foxhill
Folio	5240
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1921
Officiating Minister	F. J. Daynes

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).