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 2456

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Ashburton Registrar W. Cowie

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

29 July 1921

Harvey Bruce
Mary Edna Black

Harry Bruce
Mary Edna Diack
💍 1921/4445

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
25

Riffleton
Ashburton

9 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church

7764

William Bruce, father of minor

29 July 1921

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	61
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harvey Bruce	Mary Edna Black
BDM Match (85%)	Harry Bruce	Mary Edna Diack
	💍 1921/4445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Riffleton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	7764
Consent	William Bruce, father of minor
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

3 August 1921

Frederick William Hauds
Christina Catherine Broker

Frederick William Hands
Christina Catherine Sarah Broker
💍 1921/4446

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

36
30

Wakanui
Wakanui

9 years

Church of England

7765

Edward Broker, father of minor

3 August 1921

Rev. J. H. Wiseman, Church of England

No	62
Date of Notice	3 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Hauds	Christina Catherine Broker
BDM Match (89%)	Frederick William Hands	Christina Catherine Sarah Broker
	💍 1921/4446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Wakanui	Wakanui
Length of Residence		9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	7765
Consent	Edward Broker, father of minor
Date of Certificate	3 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Wiseman, Church of England

14 August 1921

Cecil Blackwood Butcher
Laura Muriel Nelson

Cecil Blackwell Butcher
Laura Muriel Sapphira Welsh
💍 1921/4447

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

20
19

Waimate
Ashburton

10 months

At the dwelling of H. H. Veale, Havelock Street, Ashburton

7766

Anne Butcher, mother of minor

14 August 1921

Rev. J. H. Veale, Methodist

No	63
Date of Notice	14 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Blackwood Butcher	Laura Muriel Nelson
BDM Match (71%)	Cecil Blackwell Butcher	Laura Muriel Sapphira Welsh
	💍 1921/4447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Waimate	Ashburton
Length of Residence		10 months
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of H. H. Veale, Havelock Street, Ashburton
Folio	7766
Consent	Anne Butcher, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	14 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Veale, Methodist

23 August 1921

David Fitzgerald
Beatrice Elizabeth Wickie

David Fitzgerald
Beatrice Elizabeth Wilkie
💍 1921/4803

Bachelor
Spinster

Domestic duties

30
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

Roman Catholic

8148

23 August 1921

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	64
Date of Notice	23 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Fitzgerald	Beatrice Elizabeth Wickie
BDM Match (98%)	David Fitzgerald	Beatrice Elizabeth Wilkie
	💍 1921/4803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession		Domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic
Folio	8148
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

29 August 1921

James Roberts
Nellie Eliza Hunt

James Roberts
Nellie Eliza Hunt
💍 1921/4448

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

34
30

Willowby
Ashburton

10 years

At the dwelling of Peter Hunt, Cook Street, Ashburton

7767

29 August 1921

Rev. W. Georgie, Presbyterian

No	65
Date of Notice	29 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Roberts	Nellie Eliza Hunt
	💍 1921/4448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Willowby	Ashburton
Length of Residence		10 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling of Peter Hunt, Cook Street, Ashburton
Folio	7767
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Georgie, 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).