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 2298

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. Fyans

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

23 March 1921

William John O'Hallahan
Violet Elinor Lenaghin

William John O'Callahan
Violet Elinor McLenaghin
💍 1921/9807

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee
Domestic duties

23
22

Nelson
Nelson

6 months
2 [illegible]

Office of the Registrar

2436

23 March 1921

R. B. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	23 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John O'Hallahan	Violet Elinor Lenaghin
BDM Match (94%)	William John O'Callahan	Violet Elinor McLenaghin
	💍 1921/9807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 months	2 [illegible]
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	2436
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1921
Officiating Minister	R. B. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

24 March 1921

Sydney Edward Alfred Gale
Lucy Gale

Sydney Edward Aldred
Lucy Bale
💍 1921/9809

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Clerk

23
24

Nelson
Nelson

10 weeks
1 week

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson

2438

24 March 1921

R. E. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Edward Alfred Gale	Lucy Gale
BDM Match (82%)	Sydney Edward Aldred	Lucy Bale
	💍 1921/9809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Clerk
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	10 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson
Folio	2438
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	R. E. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

24 March 1921

Ronald Archibald Buchanan
Ada Amy Bika Bell

Ronald Archibald Buchanan
Ada Amy Vita Betts
💍 1921/9808

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
23

Nelson
Nelson

33 years

Christchurch Cathedral Nelson

2437

24 March 1921

Mr. G. E. Blacko, Church of England

No	35
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Archibald Buchanan	Ada Amy Bika Bell
BDM Match (86%)	Ronald Archibald Buchanan	Ada Amy Vita Betts
	💍 1921/9808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence		33 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral Nelson
Folio	2437
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. E. Blacko, Church of England

24 March 1921

Ronald Archibald Buchanan
Ada Amy Bika Bell

Ronald Archibald Buchanan
Ada Amy Vita Betts
💍 1921/9808

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
23

Nelson
Nelson

33 years

Christchurch Cathedral Nelson

2437

24 March 1921

Mr. G. E. Blacko, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Archibald Buchanan	Ada Amy Bika Bell
BDM Match (86%)	Ronald Archibald Buchanan	Ada Amy Vita Betts
	💍 1921/9808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	33 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral Nelson
Folio	2437
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. E. Blacko, Church of England

29 March 1921

Edwin Joseph Browne
Kathleen Hettie Pahl

Edwin Joseph Downes
Kathleen Nettie Pahl
💍 1921/9810

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef
Domestic duties

Nelson
Nelson

3 years

2439

R. E. Pahl [and Hellen Pahl, Mother, both crossed out]

29 March 1921

A. J. Tyson, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	29 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Joseph Browne	Kathleen Hettie Pahl
BDM Match (90%)	Edwin Joseph Downes	Kathleen Nettie Pahl
	💍 1921/9810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef	Domestic duties
Age		19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years
Marriage Place
Folio	2439
Consent	R. E. Pahl [and Hellen Pahl, Mother, both crossed out]
Date of Certificate	29 March 1921
Officiating Minister	A. J. Tyson, Registrar

29 March 1921

Arthur Ernest Salisbury
Ruth Millicent Shirliff

Arthur Ernest Salisbury
Ruth Millicent Shirtliff
💍 1921/9811

Bachelor
Spinster

Nelson
Nelson

6 days
3 weeks

2500

29 March 1921

Rev. C. A. Eves, Open Brethren

No	39
Date of Notice	29 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Salisbury	Ruth Millicent Shirliff
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Ernest Salisbury	Ruth Millicent Shirtliff
	💍 1921/9811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place
Folio	2500
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Eves, Open Brethren

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).