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 2459

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Ashburton

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

Leslie George Dodd
Agnes Mary Sharpe

Leslie George Dodd
Agnes Mary Sharpe
💍 1921/6162

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter, NZR
Domestic duties

37
24

Glenavy
Ashburton

3 weeks

St. Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton

10301

3 October 1921

Rev. J. H. Wiseman, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	3 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie George Dodd	Agnes Mary Sharpe
	💍 1921/6162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter, NZR	Domestic duties
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Glenavy	Ashburton
Length of Residence		3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	10301
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Wiseman, Church of England

7 October 1921

Thomas Arthur Taylor
Gertrude Isabel Robinson

Thomas Arthur Taylor
Gertrude Isabel Robinson
💍 1921/6173

Widower
Spinster

Worker
Waitress

39
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 years
3 days

At the dwelling of William Young Chester, Grey Street, Ashburton

10302

7 October 1921

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	7 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Taylor	Gertrude Isabel Robinson
	💍 1921/6173
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Worker	Waitress
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of William Young Chester, Grey Street, Ashburton
Folio	10302
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

7 October 1921

James Lindsay Dewar
Christina Dawson

James Lindsay Dewar
Christina Dawson
💍 1921/6180

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
21

Waterton
Waterton

8 years
2 years

Church of England, Waterton

10303

7 October 1921

Rev. A. H. Barnett, Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	7 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lindsay Dewar	Christina Dawson
	💍 1921/6180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Waterton
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waterton
Folio	10303
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Barnett, Church of England

18 October 1921

Louis Knale
Ellen Rosalie Dean

Louis Kneale
Ellen Rosalie Dean
💍 1921/6181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

29
20

Ashburton
Hampstead

14 years

St. Andrew's Church, Ashburton

10304

Maria Dean, Mother of Minor

18 October 1921

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	18 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Knale	Ellen Rosalie Dean
BDM Match (96%)	Louis Kneale	Ellen Rosalie Dean
	💍 1921/6181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Ashburton
Folio	10304
Consent	Maria Dean, Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	18 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

19 October 1921

Leslie George Keeley
Kate Thomson

Leslie George Keeley
Kate Thomson
💍 1921/6182

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapers Assistant
Domestic duties

18
17

Trevorston
Hampstead

18 years
14 years

Office of the Registrar, Ashburton

10305

George Keeley, father of minor; William John Thomson, father of minor

19 October 1921

W. W. White, Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	19 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie George Keeley	Kate Thomson
	💍 1921/6182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapers Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	18	17
Dwelling Place	Trevorston	Hampstead
Length of Residence	18 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Ashburton
Folio	10305
Consent	George Keeley, father of minor; William John Thomson, father of minor
Date of Certificate	19 October 1921
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

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).