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 2304

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. Lyons

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

13 May 1921

Percy James Bodoworth
Rita Rachel Harvey

Percy James Dodsworth
Rita Rachel Harvey
💍 1921/7009

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

19
18

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages

5213

Mother Alice Bodoworth, Father John Harvey

18 May 1921

S. Lyons, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	13 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy James Bodoworth	Rita Rachel Harvey
BDM Match (95%)	Percy James Dodsworth	Rita Rachel Harvey
	💍 1921/7009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	5213
Consent	Mother Alice Bodoworth, Father John Harvey
Date of Certificate	18 May 1921
Officiating Minister	S. Lyons, Registrar

14 May 1921

Robert Girvin
Nellie Eileen Brown

Robert Girvin
Nellie Eileen Cotton
💍 1921/7010

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

26
21

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

St. Johns Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

5214

19 May 1921

Rev. H. R. Skinner, Methodist

No	57
Date of Notice	14 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Girvin	Nellie Eileen Brown
BDM Match (88%)	Robert Girvin	Nellie Eileen Cotton
	💍 1921/7010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Johns Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	5214
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Skinner, Methodist

16 May 1921

John Garvin
Iren Elizabeth Constable

John Garvin
Inez Elizabeth Constable
💍 1921/7011

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
3 years

Dwelling of Mrs Eleanor Rebecca Garvin, Waimea Street, Nelson

5215

19 May 1921

Rev. J. M. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	16 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Garvin	Iren Elizabeth Constable
BDM Match (96%)	John Garvin	Inez Elizabeth Constable
	💍 1921/7011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Eleanor Rebecca Garvin, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	5215
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Gibb, Presbyterian

20 May 1921

Leslie Peter Granville
Dorothy Elizabeth Simpson

Leslie Peter Grenville Fox
Dorothy Eliza Simpson
💍 1921/7012

Bachelor
Spinster

Shopman
Shopworker

23
23

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

5216

23 May 1921

Geo. S. King, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	20 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Peter Granville	Dorothy Elizabeth Simpson
BDM Match (82%)	Leslie Peter Grenville Fox	Dorothy Eliza Simpson
	💍 1921/7012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shopman	Shopworker
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	5216
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Geo. S. King, Church of England

20 May 1921

Herbert Joseph Gaze
Elizabeth Borthwick

Herbert Joseph Yates
Elizabeth Cook
💍 1921/7013

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Saleswoman

24
29

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

5217

20 May 1921

Rev. G. M. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	20 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Joseph Gaze	Elizabeth Borthwick
BDM Match (74%)	Herbert Joseph Yates	Elizabeth Cook
	💍 1921/7013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Saleswoman
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	5217
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. M. Gibb, 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).