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 2471

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Christchurch

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

13 January 1921

Owen Wilfred Symes
Dora Annie Gudsell

Owen Wilfred Symes
Dora Annie Gudsell
💍 1921/2361

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
27

Lyndhurst
Riccarton

1 year
3 months

St. Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton

209

13 January 1921

W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	40
Date of Notice	13 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Wilfred Symes	Dora Annie Gudsell
	💍 1921/2361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Lyndhurst	Riccarton
Length of Residence	1 year	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton
Folio	209
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1921
Officiating Minister	W. S. Bean, Anglican

14 January 1921

John Montgomery
Anne Gordon Rich

John Montgomery
Anne Gordon Rich
💍 1921/2338

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

46
26

Fendalton
Fendalton

12 years
6 years

St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton

210

14 January 1921

A. S. Leach, Anglican

No	41
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Montgomery	Anne Gordon Rich
	💍 1921/2338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	46	26
Dwelling Place	Fendalton	Fendalton
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Fendalton
Folio	210
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1921
Officiating Minister	A. S. Leach, Anglican

14 January 1921

Charles Richard Emerson
Grace Campbell Stewart

Charles Richard Emerson
Grace Campbell Stewart
💍 1921/2339

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey

26
25

Sockburn
Upper Riccarton

14 years
Life

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

211

14 January 1921

J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	42
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Richard Emerson	Grace Campbell Stewart
	💍 1921/2339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Sockburn	Upper Riccarton
Length of Residence	14 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	211
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Paterson, Presbyterian

15 January 1921

Ernest William Christiansen
Jean Olga Smith

Ernest William Christiansen
Jean Olga Smith
💍 1921/2340

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
19

Christchurch
New Brighton

20 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

212

William Armstrong Smith, Father

15 January 1921

Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Christiansen	Jean Olga Smith
	💍 1921/2340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	New Brighton
Length of Residence	20 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	212
Consent	William Armstrong Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

15 January 1921

Robert Young
Julia Matilda Maughlan

Robert Young
Julia Matilda McCaughan
💍 1921/2341

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

35
37

St. Martins
Sydenham

30 years
20 years

Residence of Rev. W. A. C. Vickery, 11 Basetta Street, Sydenham

213

15 January 1921

W. A. C. Vickery, Congregationalist

No	44
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Young	Julia Matilda Maughlan
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Young	Julia Matilda McCaughan
	💍 1921/2341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	35	37
Dwelling Place	St. Martins	Sydenham
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. A. C. Vickery, 11 Basetta Street, Sydenham
Folio	213
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	W. A. C. Vickery, Congregationalist

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).