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 2515

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

258

22 March 1921

Harold Thomas Stringer
Vena May Coburn

Harold Thomas Stringer
Vena May Coburn
💍 1921/976

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant

21
19

St. Albans
Sydenham

13 years
12 years

Residence of Mrs. T. B. Coburn, 53 Wilson's Road, Sydenham

408

Thomas Brydon Coburn, Father

22 March 1921

W. Ready, Methodist

No	258
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Thomas Stringer	Vena May Coburn
	💍 1921/976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Sydenham
Length of Residence	13 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. T. B. Coburn, 53 Wilson's Road, Sydenham
Folio	408
Consent	Thomas Brydon Coburn, Father
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Ready, Methodist

259

22 March 1921

Arthur Ernest Hopkins
Maud Mary Minnie Marguerite Leigh

Arthur Ernest Hopkins
Maud Mary Minnie Margaret Leigh
💍 1921/977

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder

35
38

Christchurch
Spreydon

16 years
35 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

409

22 March 1921

P. J. Cocks, Anglican

No	259
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Hopkins	Maud Mary Minnie Marguerite Leigh
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Ernest Hopkins	Maud Mary Minnie Margaret Leigh
	💍 1921/977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder
Age	35	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	16 years	35 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	409
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	P. J. Cocks, Anglican

260

22 March 1921

John Samuel Moore
Mary Eve Lyn Smale

John Samuel Moore
Mary Evelyn Smale
💍 1921/10122

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

26
21

Linwood
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

2943

22 March 1921

W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	260
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel Moore	Mary Eve Lyn Smale
BDM Match (94%)	John Samuel Moore	Mary Evelyn Smale
	💍 1921/10122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	2943
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	W. S. Bean, Anglican

261

22 March 1921

Joseph John Samuel Peters
Mabel Reid Torney

Joseph Samuel Peters
Mabel Reid Torrey
💍 1921/954

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

22
23

Linwood
Christchurch

16 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. J. Peters, 41 Ensors Road, Opawa

410

22 March 1921

J. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	261
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph John Samuel Peters	Mabel Reid Torney
BDM Match (87%)	Joseph Samuel Peters	Mabel Reid Torrey
	💍 1921/954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Peters, 41 Ensors Road, Opawa
Folio	410
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	J. McDonald, Presbyterian

262

22 March 1921

Cyril Joseph McShane
Doris Mabel Helmling (Harder commonly known as Doris Mabel Helmling)

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

25
21

Auckland
Christchurch

11 months
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

1493

22 March 1921

O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	262
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Joseph McShane	Doris Mabel Helmling (Harder commonly known as Doris Mabel Helmling)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 months	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	1493
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

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).