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 2371

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Grey Registrar J. W. Indel

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

4 January 1921

Herbert William Beams
Agnes Mary Roberts

Herbert William Beams
Agnes Mary Roberts
💍 1921/9827

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

26
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

10 years
4 weeks

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

2517

4 January 1921

J. Riordan, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Beams	Agnes Mary Roberts
	💍 1921/9827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	10 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	2517
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Riordan, Roman Catholic

6 January 1921

Russell Grant Caigou
Esther Ann Dawn

Russell Grant Caigou
Esther Ann Lawn
💍 1921/9828

Bachelor
Spinster

Rubber Works Draughtsman
Music Teacher

29
25

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
16 years

Anglican Church

2518

6 January 1921

A. J. Garnell, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Russell Grant Caigou	Esther Ann Dawn
BDM Match (97%)	Russell Grant Caigou	Esther Ann Lawn
	💍 1921/9828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Rubber Works Draughtsman	Music Teacher
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	2518
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1921
Officiating Minister	A. J. Garnell, Church of England

14 January 1921

Robert Vickers
Annie Elizabeth Douglas

Robert Vicars
Annie Elizabeth Douglas
💍 1921/9829

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

28
16

Greymouth
Otira

1 week

Vestry of Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

2519

George Adam Douglas, Father

14 January 1921

J. R. Cuttle, Registrar Office, Presbyterian, Greymouth

No	3
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Vickers	Annie Elizabeth Douglas
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Vicars	Annie Elizabeth Douglas
	💍 1921/9829
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	28	16
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Otira
Length of Residence	1 week
Marriage Place	Vestry of Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	2519
Consent	George Adam Douglas, Father
Date of Certificate	14 January 1921
Officiating Minister	J. R. Cuttle, Registrar Office, Presbyterian, Greymouth

1 February 1921

Robert Alexander Barrowman
Elsie Annie Pascoe

Robert Alexander Barrowman
Elsie Annie Pascoe
💍 1921/9830

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

30
27

Greymouth
Greymouth

30 years
27 years

Methodist Church

2520

1 February 1921

J. J. Wallis, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Barrowman	Elsie Annie Pascoe
	💍 1921/9830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	30 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	2520
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. J. Wallis, Methodist

8 February 1921

Victor Charles Lawn
Alma Eliza Butcher

Victor Charles Lawn
Alma Eliza Butcher
💍 1921/9832

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Telephone Attendant

33
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days
4 years

St. Paul's Church, Greymouth

2521

8 February 1921

J. J. Wallis, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	8 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Charles Lawn	Alma Eliza Butcher
	💍 1921/9832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Telephone Attendant
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Greymouth
Folio	2521
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. J. Wallis, Methodist

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).