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 2492

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1921

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

144

22 February 1921

George Webb
Moiral Smith

George Webb
Meirl Smith
💍 1921/2412

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist

35
23

Loburn
Addington

4 years
13 years

Residence of Mr. J. Smith

311

22 February 1921

E. E. Smith, Baptist

No	144
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Webb	Moiral Smith
BDM Match (92%)	George Webb	Meirl Smith
	💍 1921/2412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Loburn	Addington
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Smith
Folio	311
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	E. E. Smith, Baptist

145

22 February 1921

Robert John Henderson
Barbara McLeod

Robert John Henderson
Barbara McLeod
💍 1921/8837

Widower (Previous marriage dissolved 11 August 1916)
Spinster

Ironmonger

36
34

Ashburton
Christchurch

20 years
1 year

Christchurch

1481

22 February 1921

R. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	145
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Henderson	Barbara McLeod
	💍 1921/8837
Condition	Widower (Previous marriage dissolved 11 August 1916)	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Christchurch
Folio	1481
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	R. Erwin, Presbyterian

146

22 February 1921

Charles William Arthur Hutchinson
Ruby McViccar Neale

Charles William Arthur Hutchison
Ruby Millicent Male
💍 1921/2413

Divorced (Decree Absolute 21 January 1921)
Spinster

Tramway Motorman

21
22

St. Albans
St. Albans

7 years

St. Albans

312

22 February 1921

W. Baumber, Methodist

No	146
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Arthur Hutchinson	Ruby McViccar Neale
BDM Match (77%)	Charles William Arthur Hutchison	Ruby Millicent Male
	💍 1921/2413
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 21 January 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Motorman
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Albans
Folio	312
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Baumber, Methodist

147

22 February 1921

Robert Hulbert
Ellen Chambers

Robert Hulbert
Ellen Chambers
💍 1921/2414

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheetmetal Worker
-

29
35

Christchurch
Spreydon

24 years
21 months

Methodist Church Sydenham

313

22 February 1921

W. Beckett, Methodist

No	147
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hulbert	Ellen Chambers
	💍 1921/2414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheetmetal Worker	-
Age	29	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Spreydon
Length of Residence	24 years	21 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Sydenham
Folio	313
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Beckett, Methodist

148

22 February 1921

Thomas Alfred Weir
Alice Chapman Painter

Thomas Alfred Weir
Alice Chapman Painter
💍 1921/2415

Divorced Decree Absolute 21 February 1921
Widow 28.10.19

Labourer
-

38
50

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
8 years

Dwelling of Pastor B. Cozens 32 Walker Street Christchurch

314

22 February 1921

Pastor B. Cozens, Seventh Day Adventist

No	148
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Weir	Alice Chapman Painter
	💍 1921/2415
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 21 February 1921	Widow 28.10.19
Profession	Labourer	-
Age	38	50
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Pastor B. Cozens 32 Walker Street Christchurch
Folio	314
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Pastor B. Cozens, Seventh Day Adventist

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).