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 2538

District of 30 June 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

370

14 April 1921

Sydney David Waters
Henrietta Walford

Sydney David Waters
Henrietta Wafford
💍 1921/1566

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

Redcliffs
Christchurch

33 years
2 months

Church of the Good Shepherd

3802

14 April 1921

C. H. I. Rae, Anglican

No	370
Date of Notice	14 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney David Waters	Henrietta Walford
BDM Match (97%)	Sydney David Waters	Henrietta Wafford
	💍 1921/1566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	37
Dwelling Place	Redcliffs	Christchurch
Length of Residence	33 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd
Folio	3802
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1921
Officiating Minister	C. H. I. Rae, Anglican

371

15 April 1921

Willie Brunton Nicoll
Susannah McBet

Willie Brunton Nicoll
Susannah Maber
💍 1921/1567

Widower
Widow

Farmer

Christchurch
Spreydon

40 years

St. Mary's Church

3803

15 April 1921

W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	371
Date of Notice	15 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willie Brunton Nicoll	Susannah McBet
BDM Match (89%)	Willie Brunton Nicoll	Susannah Maber
	💍 1921/1567
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	41
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	40 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church
Folio	3803
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1921
Officiating Minister	W. S. Bean, Anglican

372

15 April 1921

George Patrick Anderson
Marie Alberta Diamanti Cash

George Patrick Anderson
Marie Alberta Diamanti Clark
💍 1921/1568

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
24

Christchurch
Mangataihoka

2 years
8 months

St. Mary's Church

3804

15 April 1921

C. H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

No	372
Date of Notice	15 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Patrick Anderson	Marie Alberta Diamanti Cash
BDM Match (95%)	George Patrick Anderson	Marie Alberta Diamanti Clark
	💍 1921/1568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Mangataihoka
Length of Residence	2 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church
Folio	3804
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1921
Officiating Minister	C. H. Seymour, Roman Catholic

373

15 April 1921

Richard Leeson
Johanna Margaret Grace Brown

Richard Leeson Stringer
Johanna Margaret Grace Brown
💍 1921/1569

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

Oxford

19 months

Congregational

3805

15 April 1921

W. H. C. Vicker, Congregationalist

No	373
Date of Notice	15 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Leeson	Johanna Margaret Grace Brown
BDM Match (80%)	Richard Leeson Stringer	Johanna Margaret Grace Brown
	💍 1921/1569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44
Dwelling Place	Oxford
Length of Residence	19 months
Marriage Place	Congregational
Folio	3805
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1921
Officiating Minister	W. H. C. Vicker, Congregationalist

374

15 April 1921

Patrick Thorpy
Mona Ellen Todd

Patrick Thorpy
Mona Ellen Todd
💍 1921/1570

Widower
Spinster

Merchant

35
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 September 1917
3 days

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbados Street, Christchurch

3806

15 April 1921

J. Hanna Law, Roman Catholic

No	374
Date of Notice	15 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Thorpy	Mona Ellen Todd
	💍 1921/1570
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 September 1917	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Barbados Street, Christchurch
Folio	3806
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Hanna Law, Roman Catholic

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).