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 2318

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. J. Spon

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

121

9 December 1921

Cyril Giffen Lee
Hazel Doreen Macmahon

Cyril Giffen Dee
Hazel Doreen MacMahon
💍 1921/10908

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic duties

25
22

Stoke
Stoke

25 years
3 years

St. Barnabas Church, Stoke

10645

9 December 1921

Rev. Ja. Rogers, Church of England

No	121
Date of Notice	9 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Giffen Lee	Hazel Doreen Macmahon
BDM Match (95%)	Cyril Giffen Dee	Hazel Doreen MacMahon
	💍 1921/10908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Stoke
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Stoke
Folio	10645
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ja. Rogers, Church of England

122

14 December 1921

Frank Baldwin
Marjory Annie Shercliff

Frank Baldwin
Marjory Annie Shirtliff
💍 1921/4001

Widower (since 25 August 1920)
Spinster

Fruit Grower
School Teacher

36
22

Stoke
Nelson

10 months
14 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

10243

14 December 1921

S. Iyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	122
Date of Notice	14 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Baldwin	Marjory Annie Shercliff
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Baldwin	Marjory Annie Shirtliff
	💍 1921/4001
Condition	Widower (since 25 August 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower	School Teacher
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Nelson
Length of Residence	10 months	14 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	10243
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1921
Officiating Minister	S. Iyson, Registrar of Marriages

123

15 December 1921

Herbert Alfred Hobbs
Edith Sharkey

Herbert Alfred Hobbs
Edith Starkey
💍 1921/4002

Divorced (since 3 December 1921)
Spinster

Plumber and Gasfitter
Domestic duties

55
44

Nelson
Nelson

24 years
6 months

Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson

10244

15 December 1921

Rev. John Rained, Baptist

No	123
Date of Notice	15 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Alfred Hobbs	Edith Sharkey
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Alfred Hobbs	Edith Starkey
	💍 1921/4002
Condition	Divorced (since 3 December 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Plumber and Gasfitter	Domestic duties
Age	55	44
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	24 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Bridge Street, Nelson
Folio	10244
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Rained, Baptist

124

19 December 1921

William Walter Look
Florence Kathleen Guthrie

William Walter Lock
Florence Kathleen Guthrie
💍 1921/4004

Widower (since 5 November 1920)
Widow (since 28 November 1918)

Plumber
Domestic duties

34
32

Nelson
Nelson

3 years

Haven Road, Nelson

10245

19 December 1921

Rev. J. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	124
Date of Notice	19 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Look	Florence Kathleen Guthrie
BDM Match (97%)	William Walter Lock	Florence Kathleen Guthrie
	💍 1921/4004
Condition	Widower (since 5 November 1920)	Widow (since 28 November 1918)
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence		3 years
Marriage Place	Haven Road, Nelson
Folio	10245
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

125

19 December 1921

Henry Kewell
Edith Rodson

Henry Newell Waymouth
Edith Dodson
💍 1922/611

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic duties

30
24

Building
Building

6 years

Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson

108

19 December 1921

Rev. L de B. Galway, Church of England

No	125
Date of Notice	19 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Kewell	Edith Rodson
BDM Match (72%)	Henry Newell Waymouth	Edith Dodson
	💍 1922/611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Building	Building
Length of Residence	6 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	108
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. L de B. Galway, Church of England

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).