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 2534

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Christchurch Registrar Not specified

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

350

9 April 1921

Victor Walter Spinks
Elsie Warren

Victor Walter Spinks
Elsie Warren
💍 1921/1523

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

28
22

St. Albans
Richmond

2 years
2 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

3783

9 April 1921

F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	350
Date of Notice	9 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Walter Spinks	Elsie Warren
	💍 1921/1523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Richmond
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3783
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1921
Officiating Minister	F. N. Taylor, Anglican

351

9 April 1921

Harold Edward Bell
Florence Clare Fraser

Harold Edward Bell
Florence Elsie Fraser
💍 1921/1524

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
27

Spreydon
Addington

Life
11 years

St. Paul's Church, Christchurch

3784

9 April 1921

J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	351
Date of Notice	9 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edward Bell	Florence Clare Fraser
BDM Match (93%)	Harold Edward Bell	Florence Elsie Fraser
	💍 1921/1524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Spreydon	Addington
Length of Residence	Life	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3784
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Paterson, Presbyterian

352

11 April 1921

Justin Aylmer Western
Maria Philippa Hamilton Robinson

Justin Aylmer Westenra
Marcia Philippa Hamilton Robinson
💍 1921/1525

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
26

Port Levy
Christchurch

22 months
16 years

St. Mary's Church, Merivale

3785

11 April 1921

C. N. Gosset, Anglican

No	352
Date of Notice	11 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Justin Aylmer Western	Maria Philippa Hamilton Robinson
BDM Match (94%)	Justin Aylmer Westenra	Marcia Philippa Hamilton Robinson
	💍 1921/1525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Port Levy	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 months	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale
Folio	3785
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1921
Officiating Minister	C. N. Gosset, Anglican

353

11 April 1921

Lawrence Wyndram
Maud Nixon

Lawrence Wyndham Mellor
Maud Nixon
💍 1921/1526

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

27
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
5 years

Wesley Church, Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch

3786

11 April 1921

W. Ready, Methodist

No	353
Date of Notice	11 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Wyndram	Maud Nixon
BDM Match (83%)	Lawrence Wyndham Mellor	Maud Nixon
	💍 1921/1526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	27	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch
Folio	3786
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Ready, Methodist

354

11 April 1921

James Allan McGregor
Bridget Quinn

James Allan McGregor
Bridget Quinn
💍 1921/1527

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

39
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

3787

11 April 1921

P. Regnault, Roman Catholic

No	354
Date of Notice	11 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Allan McGregor	Bridget Quinn
	💍 1921/1527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	3787
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1921
Officiating Minister	P. Regnault, 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).