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 2491

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

139

2 February 1921

Harry Edward Davis
Gladys Norton Taylor

Harry Edward Davis
Gladys Norton-Taylor
💍 1921/2430

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

28
24

Christchurch Life Residence of Mr. J. Watt, 268 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Christchurch

307

21 February 1921

Rev. J. Copeland, Methodist

No	139
Date of Notice	2 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Edward Davis	Gladys Norton Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	Harry Edward Davis	Gladys Norton-Taylor
	💍 1921/2430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch Life Residence of Mr. J. Watt, 268 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio	307
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Copeland, Methodist

140

21 February 1921

Ernest James Robinson
Muriel Charlotte Naish

Ernest James Robinson
Muriel Charlotte Naish
💍 1921/2431

Widower
Spinster

Station Manager

28
25

Middleton
Riccarton

4 days
11 years

Knox Church

308

21 February 1921

Rev. N. A. Fowler, Methodist

No	140
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest James Robinson	Muriel Charlotte Naish
	💍 1921/2431
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Middleton	Riccarton
Length of Residence	4 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church
Folio	308
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. A. Fowler, Methodist

141

21 February 1921

Norman Ravensdale Smith
P. Phyllis Brown

Norman Ravensdale Smith
Phyllis Brown
💍 1921/2432

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron Machinist

33
27

Riccarton
St. Albans Avenue, Christchurch

10 years

Bealey Avenue, Christchurch

309

21 February 1921

Rev. B. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	141
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Ravensdale Smith	P. Phyllis Brown
BDM Match (91%)	Norman Ravensdale Smith	Phyllis Brown
	💍 1921/2432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron Machinist
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Riccarton	St. Albans Avenue, Christchurch
Length of Residence		10 years
Marriage Place	Bealey Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	309
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Erwin, Presbyterian

142

21 February 1921

Lawrence Seymour Durey
Dorothy Myrtle Larcombe

Lawrence Seymour Durey
Dorothy Myrtle Larcombe
💍 1921/10117

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
24

Harewood
Spreydon

2 years

St. Augustine's Church

2938

25 February 1921

Rev. W. A. Corbett, Anglican

No	142
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Seymour Durey	Dorothy Myrtle Larcombe
	💍 1921/10117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Harewood	Spreydon
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church
Folio	2938
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Corbett, Anglican

143

22 February 1921

Arthur Leonard French
Elizabeth Veronica Brown

Arthur Leonard French
Elizabeth Veronica Brown
💍 1921/2433

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

29
28

Addington
Addington

4 years
3 months

Registrar's Office

310

22 February 1921

Registrar

No	143
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Leonard French	Elizabeth Veronica Brown
	💍 1921/2433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Addington	Addington
Length of Residence	4 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	310
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	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).