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 2485

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Christchurch Registrar Not specified

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

109

7 February 1921

James Linwood Worrall
Marion Susanna Barns

James Kirkwood Worrall
Marion Susanna Barns
💍 1921/2398

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

29
28

Linwood
Linwood

14 years
1 year

Residence of Mrs. Barns, 24 North Parade, Richmond

277

7 February 1921

J. A. G. Chapple, Unitarian

No	109
Date of Notice	7 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Linwood Worrall	Marion Susanna Barns
BDM Match (93%)	James Kirkwood Worrall	Marion Susanna Barns
	💍 1921/2398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	14 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Barns, 24 North Parade, Richmond
Folio	277
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. A. G. Chapple, Unitarian

110

7 February 1921

Richard Edgar Webb
Elizabeth Midgley

Richard Edgar Webb
Elizabeth Midgley
💍 1921/2404

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

27
25

Sockburn
Sockburn

13 years
12 years

St. Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton

278

7 February 1921

A. J. York, Anglican

No	110
Date of Notice	7 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edgar Webb	Elizabeth Midgley
	💍 1921/2404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Sockburn	Sockburn
Length of Residence	13 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Upper Riccarton
Folio	278
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1921
Officiating Minister	A. J. York, Anglican

111

8 February 1921

William Raymond Osborne Greenhill
Maitland Ethel Ivy Butt

William Raymond Osborne Greenhill
Mildred Ethel Ivy Burt
💍 1921/2405

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

29
26

Palmerston North
Spreydon

2 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

279

8 February 1921

Registrar

No	111
Date of Notice	8 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Raymond Osborne Greenhill	Maitland Ethel Ivy Butt
BDM Match (87%)	William Raymond Osborne Greenhill	Mildred Ethel Ivy Burt
	💍 1921/2405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Spreydon
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	279
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

112

8 February 1921

William Mikes Harrison
Irene Marion Wright

William Miles Harrison
Irene Marion Wright
💍 1921/2406

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

26
24

Huntersville
Christchurch

4 months
2 weeks

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

280

8 February 1921

J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	112
Date of Notice	8 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mikes Harrison	Irene Marion Wright
BDM Match (98%)	William Miles Harrison	Irene Marion Wright
	💍 1921/2406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Huntersville	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	280
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Paterson, Presbyterian

113

8 February 1921

Victor Leonard Waterman
Eunice Pryor Smith

Victor Leonard Westerman
Eunice Pryor Smith
💍 1921/2407

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
31

Hastings, Christchurch
Christchurch

5 months
1 year

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

281

8 February 1921

J. J. North, Baptist

No	113
Date of Notice	8 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Leonard Waterman	Eunice Pryor Smith
BDM Match (96%)	Victor Leonard Westerman	Eunice Pryor Smith
	💍 1921/2407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Hastings, Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	281
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. J. North, Baptist

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).