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 2479

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

27 January 1921

Edwin Judsbury Tarrant
Mabel Jane Feathey

Edwin Tudsbury Tarrant
Mabel Jane Feathery
💍 1921/2376

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

27
24

Shirley, Beaty Avenue
Shirley, Christchurch

24 years
3 months

Christ Church

247

27 January 1921

Rev. G. Lindsay, Presbyterian

No	79
Date of Notice	27 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Judsbury Tarrant	Mabel Jane Feathey
BDM Match (95%)	Edwin Tudsbury Tarrant	Mabel Jane Feathery
	💍 1921/2376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Shirley, Beaty Avenue	Shirley, Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Christ Church
Folio	247
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Lindsay, Presbyterian

27 January 1921

Bryce Wright
Helen Constance Dare

Bryce Wright
Helen Constance Dare
💍 1921/2377

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
28

Shirley
Shirley

1 month

St. Matthew's Church

248

27 January 1921

Rev. S. Hamilton, Anglican

No	80
Date of Notice	27 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bryce Wright	Helen Constance Dare
	💍 1921/2377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Shirley	Shirley
Length of Residence		1 month
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	248
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Anglican

28 January 1921

Arthur Reginald Myers
Ruby Levena Wittgans

Arthur Reginald Myers
Ruby Levena Willyams
💍 1921/2378

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
28

Residence of Mr. J. E. Frampton
35 Mayfield Avenue, St. Albans

26 years
6 years

St. Andrew's Church

249

28 January 1921

Rev. J. Newlands, Presbyterian

No	81
Date of Notice	28 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Reginald Myers	Ruby Levena Wittgans
BDM Match (90%)	Arthur Reginald Myers	Ruby Levena Willyams
	💍 1921/2378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Residence of Mr. J. E. Frampton	35 Mayfield Avenue, St. Albans
Length of Residence	26 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	249
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newlands, Presbyterian

28 January 1921

John Charles Hammond
Marjorie Martha Gaygills

John Charles Hammond
Marjorie Mabel Caygill
💍 1921/2379

Bachelor
Widow (3. 12. 1917)

Railway Clerk

30
27

Redcliffs
Papanui

8 months

Christ Church

250

28 January 1921

Rev. J. N. Griffin, Methodist

No	82
Date of Notice	28 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Hammond	Marjorie Martha Gaygills
BDM Match (88%)	John Charles Hammond	Marjorie Mabel Caygill
	💍 1921/2379
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (3. 12. 1917)
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Redcliffs	Papanui
Length of Residence	8 months
Marriage Place	Christ Church
Folio	250
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. N. Griffin, Methodist

29 January 1921

John Sutherland
Mary Isabella Whitehill

John Sutherland
Mary Isabella Mitchell
💍 1921/904

Bachelor
Spinster

Cooper

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

Christ Church

251

29 January 1921

Rev. C. Mc Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	83
Date of Notice	29 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sutherland	Mary Isabella Whitehill
BDM Match (91%)	John Sutherland	Mary Isabella Mitchell
	💍 1921/904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cooper
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Christ Church
Folio	251
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Mc Ryburn, Presbyterian

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).