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 2532

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

340

7 April 1921

Clifford Lynne Buxton
Teresa Hanlon

Clifford Fynne Buxton
Theresa Hanlon
💍 1921/1514

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
Life

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch

3773

7 April 1921

J. Hanrahan, Roman Catholic

No	340
Date of Notice	7 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Lynne Buxton	Teresa Hanlon
BDM Match (94%)	Clifford Fynne Buxton	Theresa Hanlon
	💍 1921/1514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch
Folio	3773
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Hanrahan, Roman Catholic

341

7 April 1921

William Sandford
Edith May McCaw

William Sandford
Edith May McCaw
💍 1921/1522

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
19

Ouruakia
Papanui

27 years
11 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

3774

Joseph James McCaw, Father

7 April 1921

Registrar

No	341
Date of Notice	7 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sandford	Edith May McCaw
	💍 1921/1522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Ouruakia	Papanui
Length of Residence	27 years	11 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	3774
Consent	Joseph James McCaw, Father
Date of Certificate	7 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

342

8 April 1921

Arnold Keith Hadfield
May Constance Gordon Dawe

Arnold Keith Hadfield
May Constance Gordon Dawe
💍 1921/1533

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Agent

38
41

Christchurch
Christchurch

38 years
20 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

3775

8 April 1921

F. N. Taylor, Anglican

No	342
Date of Notice	8 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Keith Hadfield	May Constance Gordon Dawe
	💍 1921/1533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Agent
Age	38	41
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	38 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	3775
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1921
Officiating Minister	F. N. Taylor, Anglican

343

8 April 1921

Alfred Lancelot Whitehead Piper
Rita Alma Norrish (known as Norrish)

Alfred Lancelot Whitehead Piper
Rita Alma Norrish Norrish
💍 1921/1540

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

22
17

Papanui
Papanui

5 days
6 months

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

3776

14 days notice

23 April 1921

J. J. North, Baptist

No	343
Date of Notice	8 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Lancelot Whitehead Piper	Rita Alma Norrish (known as Norrish)
BDM Match (85%)	Alfred Lancelot Whitehead Piper	Rita Alma Norrish Norrish
	💍 1921/1540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	5 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	3776
Consent	14 days notice
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	J. J. North, Baptist

344

8 April 1921

Paul Frederick Crump
Eulalie Estella Fleet

Paul Frederick Crump
Eulalie Estella Fleet
💍 1921/1541

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
26

Springston
Greenpark

38 years
14 years

St. Mark's Church, Greenpark

3777

8 April 1921

H. A. Wilkinson, Anglican

No	344
Date of Notice	8 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Frederick Crump	Eulalie Estella Fleet
	💍 1921/1541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Springston	Greenpark
Length of Residence	38 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Greenpark
Folio	3777
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1921
Officiating Minister	H. A. Wilkinson, Anglican

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).