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 2591

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

631

15 July 1921

Albert Ivory Stopforth
Matilda Fletcher Stacey

Albert Ivory Stapleforth
Matilda Fletcher Stacey
💍 1921/7524

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
33

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
3 weeks

Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown

5834

15 July 1921

C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	631
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ivory Stopforth	Matilda Fletcher Stacey
BDM Match (94%)	Albert Ivory Stapleforth	Matilda Fletcher Stacey
	💍 1921/7524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown
Folio	5834
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1921
Officiating Minister	C. A. Fraer, Anglican

632

15 July 1921

Llewellyn Morgan Fowke
Elsie Quartermain

Llewellyn Morgan Fowke
Elsie Quartermain
💍 1921/7525

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood-worker

29
30

Christchurch
North New Brighton

2 years
10 months

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside

5835

15 July 1921

O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

No	632
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Morgan Fowke	Elsie Quartermain
	💍 1921/7525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood-worker
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	North New Brighton
Length of Residence	2 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside
Folio	5835
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1921
Officiating Minister	O. Fitzgerald, Anglican

633

16 July 1921

James Braigmoore Morrison
Mabel Gladys Orchard

James Craigmoore Morrison
Mabel Gladys Orchard
💍 1921/7526

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

22
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
6 years

St. Matthews Church, Edgeware Road, Christchurch

5836

16 July 1921

S. Hamilton, Anglican

No	633
Date of Notice	16 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Braigmoore Morrison	Mabel Gladys Orchard
BDM Match (98%)	James Craigmoore Morrison	Mabel Gladys Orchard
	💍 1921/7526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Edgeware Road, Christchurch
Folio	5836
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1921
Officiating Minister	S. Hamilton, Anglican

634

16 July 1921

Cyril Mason Orange
Ivy Isabella Moffey

Cyril Mason Orange
Ivy Isabella Maffey
💍 1921/7527

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

20
20

St. Albans
Woolston

1 year
7 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

5837

Alfred William Orange, Father; Nicholas Moffey, Father

16 July 1921

Registrar

No	634
Date of Notice	16 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Mason Orange	Ivy Isabella Moffey
BDM Match (97%)	Cyril Mason Orange	Ivy Isabella Maffey
	💍 1921/7527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Woolston
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	5837
Consent	Alfred William Orange, Father; Nicholas Moffey, Father
Date of Certificate	16 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

635

16 July 1921

Ivan Stanley Kingston
Florence Eileen Whitelaw

Ivan Stanley Kingston
Florence Eileen Whitelaw
💍 1921/7540

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
18

Hornby
Hornby

5 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

5838

Judge A. L. Herdman, Section 20 Marriage Act 1908

16 July 1921

Registrar

No	635
Date of Notice	16 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Stanley Kingston	Florence Eileen Whitelaw
	💍 1921/7540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Hornby	Hornby
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	5838
Consent	Judge A. L. Herdman, Section 20 Marriage Act 1908
Date of Certificate	16 July 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).