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 2310

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. C. Somm

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

10 August 1921

Sandham Gillingham
Adelaide Augusta Dowdeswell

Sandham Gillingham
Adelaide Augusta Dowdeswell
💍 1921/4410

Widower (Decree Absolute 25th February 1911)
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Retired teacher

40
56

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
4 days

Christchurch Cathedral

7705

10 August 1921

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	85
Date of Notice	10 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sandham Gillingham	Adelaide Augusta Dowdeswell
	💍 1921/4410
Condition	Widower (Decree Absolute 25th February 1911)	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Retired teacher
Age	40	56
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral
Folio	7705
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

25 August 1921

Henry James Perkins
Sybil Holman

Henry James Perkins
Sybil Holman
💍 1921/4411

Divorced (Decree Absolute 18th July 1914)
Divorced (Decree Absolute 16th February 1921)

Salesman
Salesman

37
34

Nelson
Nelson

14 days
14 days

Congregational Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

7706

25 August 1921

Mr. Thomas Verece, Congregationalist

No	86
Date of Notice	25 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Perkins	Sybil Holman
	💍 1921/4411
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 18th July 1914)	Divorced (Decree Absolute 16th February 1921)
Profession	Salesman	Salesman
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	7706
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. Thomas Verece, Congregationalist

10 September 1921

Hector Keith Shing
Pearl Almena Leebody

Hector Keith Ching
Pearl Albmena Leebody
💍 1921/3547

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Factory employee

19
19

Stoke
Nelson

19 years
4 years

Dwelling of Alexander Leebody, Russell Street, Nelson

8190

10 September 1921

Rev. Ja. Rogers, Church of England

No	87
Date of Notice	10 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Keith Shing	Pearl Almena Leebody
BDM Match (95%)	Hector Keith Ching	Pearl Albmena Leebody
	💍 1921/3547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Factory employee
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Nelson
Length of Residence	19 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Alexander Leebody, Russell Street, Nelson
Folio	8190
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ja. Rogers, Church of England

13 September 1921

Charles Stuart Barnell
Lily O'Connor

Charles Stuart Parnell McLean
Eily O'Connor
💍 1921/4412

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
20

Richmond
Appleby

5 years
20 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church

7707

John O'Connor, father of bride

13 September 1921

Rev. H. O. Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	88
Date of Notice	13 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stuart Barnell	Lily O'Connor
BDM Match (82%)	Charles Stuart Parnell McLean	Eily O'Connor
	💍 1921/4412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Appleby
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church
Folio	7707
Consent	John O'Connor, father of bride
Date of Certificate	13 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. O. Sullivan, Roman Catholic

14 September 1921

[Illegible]
Emma Joan Adamore Gelverton Hugh

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

39
24

Flat Creek
Residence of Mrs. Adamore, Delamore, Nile Street, Nelson

39 years
24 years

7708

14 September 1921

Rev. J. Baird, Baptist

No	89
Date of Notice	14 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	[Illegible]	Emma Joan Adamore Gelverton Hugh
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Flat Creek	Residence of Mrs. Adamore, Delamore, Nile Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	39 years	24 years
Marriage Place
Folio	7708
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Baird, Baptist

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).