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 2589

District of 30 September 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

621

6 July 1921

Thomas Edward Dench
Mabel Emily Drayton

Thomas Edward Dench
Mabel Emily Drayton
💍 1921/7523

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
24

St. Albans
St. Albans

Life
Life

Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, Christchurch

5825

8 July 1921

J. J. North, Baptist

No	621
Date of Notice	6 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Dench	Mabel Emily Drayton
	💍 1921/7523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, Christchurch
Folio	5825
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1921
Officiating Minister	J. J. North, Baptist

622

12 July 1921

Henry William Milligan
Christina Hunt

Henry William Milligan
Christina Hunt
💍 1921/7534

Bachelor
Widow

Rabbit Inspector

37
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
2 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

5826

12 July 1921

Registrar

No	622
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Milligan	Christina Hunt
	💍 1921/7534
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Rabbit Inspector
Age	37	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	5826
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

623

12 July 1921

Joseph Henry Little
Mary Fowler

Joseph Henry Littler
Mary Fowler
💍 1921/7541

Bachelor
Spinster

Wharf Labourer

33
25

Christchurch
St. Albans

2 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

5827

12 July 1921

Registrar

No	623
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Little	Mary Fowler
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Henry Littler	Mary Fowler
	💍 1921/7541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wharf Labourer
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	5827
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

624

12 July 1921

Percival Roy Grenfell
Margaret Elizabeth Williams

Percival Roy Grenfell
Margaret Elizabeth Williams
💍 1921/7542

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

19
19

Sydenham
Christchurch

19 years
1 year

St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch

5828

Thomas Grenfell, Father; Mary Rosser formerly Williams, Mother

12 July 1921

N. J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

No	624
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Roy Grenfell	Margaret Elizabeth Williams
	💍 1921/7542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Christchurch
Folio	5828
Consent	Thomas Grenfell, Father; Mary Rosser formerly Williams, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	N. J. D. Webster, Presbyterian

625

13 July 1921

Selwyn Leeston Leggett
Isabel Dickson

Selby Leeston Leggett
Isabel Dickson
💍 1921/7543

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocery Assistant

26
22

St. Albans
Christchurch

Life
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

5829

13 July 1921

Registrar

No	625
Date of Notice	13 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Selwyn Leeston Leggett	Isabel Dickson
BDM Match (95%)	Selby Leeston Leggett	Isabel Dickson
	💍 1921/7543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocery Assistant
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	5829
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).