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 2544

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Christchurch Registrar Not explicitly signed, but the document is a Registrar's Quarterly Return for 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

400

22 April 1921

Edward Lincoln King
Beatrice Holly Boot

Edward Lincoln King
Beatrice Holly Boot
💍 1921/1595

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

43
30

Woolston
Sumner

9 months
16 months

Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

3831

22 April 1921

W. Ready, Methodist

No	400
Date of Notice	22 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Lincoln King	Beatrice Holly Boot
	💍 1921/1595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Sumner
Length of Residence	9 months	16 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	3831
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Ready, Methodist

401

22 April 1921

Alexander Ross Glen
Ivy Annie Mingworth

Alexander Ross Glen
Ivy Annie Illingworth
💍 1921/1596

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman

33
28

Wellington
Sumner

9 years
21 years

All Saints Church, Sumner

3832

22 April 1921

E. C. W. Powell, Anglican

No	401
Date of Notice	22 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Ross Glen	Ivy Annie Mingworth
BDM Match (93%)	Alexander Ross Glen	Ivy Annie Illingworth
	💍 1921/1596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Sumner
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Sumner
Folio	3832
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1921
Officiating Minister	E. C. W. Powell, Anglican

402

22 April 1921

David Davidson
Margaret Ann Moffet Cooper

David Davidson
Margaret Ann Moffet Cooper
💍 1921/1573

Widower
Spinster

Foreman Printer

52
38

St. Albans
St. Albans

Life
4 1/2 years

Residence of Mrs. Cooper, 9 Mansfield Avenue, St. Albans

3833

22 April 1921

B. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	402
Date of Notice	22 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Davidson	Margaret Ann Moffet Cooper
	💍 1921/1573
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Foreman Printer
Age	52	38
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	Life	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Cooper, 9 Mansfield Avenue, St. Albans
Folio	3833
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1921
Officiating Minister	B. Erwin, Presbyterian

403

23 April 1921

William John Noble
Mary Alice Heaton

William John Noble
Mary Alice Heaton
💍 1921/1574

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

21
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
15 months

Residence of Mr. A. Heaton, 47 Byron Street, Sydenham

3834

23 April 1921

E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	403
Date of Notice	23 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Noble	Mary Alice Heaton
	💍 1921/1574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Heaton, 47 Byron Street, Sydenham
Folio	3834
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	E. D. Patchett, Methodist

404

23 April 1921

Ernest Robins Palmer
Amy Beatrice Hughes

Ernest Robins Palmer
Amy Beatrice Hughes
💍 1921/1575

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

36
36

Christchurch
St. Albans

9 years
3 months

Residence of Mrs. Loohrey, 158 St. Albans Street, St. Albans

3835

23 April 1921

J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	404
Date of Notice	23 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Robins Palmer	Amy Beatrice Hughes
	💍 1921/1575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	9 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Loohrey, 158 St. Albans Street, St. Albans
Folio	3835
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Paterson, Presbyterian

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).