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 2296

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar E. G. Symes

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

8 March 1921

Henry Reid Lisher
Ivy Elizabeth Richardson

Henry Reid Lister
Ivy Elizabeth Richardson
💍 1921/9796

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Stenographer and Both

43
25

Nelson

3 days
3 days

Chapel of the Holy Evangelists, Bishopdale

2486

8 March 1921

Rev. Bishop W. B. Sadler, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	8 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Reid Lisher	Ivy Elizabeth Richardson
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Reid Lister	Ivy Elizabeth Richardson
	💍 1921/9796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Stenographer and Both
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Chapel of the Holy Evangelists, Bishopdale
Folio	2486
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Bishop W. B. Sadler, Church of England

9 March 1921

Thomas Gortley Wilkes
Irene Elga Taylor

Thomas Gortley Wilkes
Irene Elza Taylor
💍 1921/9797

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Inspector
Book keeper

26
21

Mangaweka
Nelson

8 months

Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson

2487

9 March 1921

Mr. G. E. Hicks, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	9 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gortley Wilkes	Irene Elga Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Gortley Wilkes	Irene Elza Taylor
	💍 1921/9797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Inspector	Book keeper
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Mangaweka	Nelson
Length of Residence		8 months
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	2487
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. E. Hicks, Church of England

10 March 1921

Joseph Wood
Ivey Roberta Gibson

Joseph Wood
Inez Roberta Gibson
💍 1921/9798

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
School Teacher

29
29

Christchurch
Nelson

12 months
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Mile Street, Christchurch, Nelson

2488

10 March 1921

No	27
Date of Notice	10 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Wood	Ivey Roberta Gibson
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Wood	Inez Roberta Gibson
	💍 1921/9798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	School Teacher
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Nelson
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mile Street, Christchurch, Nelson
Folio	2488
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1921
Officiating Minister

11 March 1921

Wilfred Robert Fallow
Kathleen Percival

Wilfred Robert Giblin
Kathleen Percival
💍 1921/9799

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Photographer

26
21

Nelson
Nelson

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

2489

11 March 1921

Rev. A. H. Austin, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	11 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Robert Fallow	Kathleen Percival
BDM Match (88%)	Wilfred Robert Giblin	Kathleen Percival
	💍 1921/9799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Photographer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	2489
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Austin, Church of England

11 March 1921

Benjamin Charles Heale
Ada Hopkinson

Benjamin Charles Neale
Ada Hopkin
💍 1921/9800

Widower (10th October 1919)
Spinster

Accountant
Clerical work

34
43

Nelson
Nelson

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

2490

11 March 1921

Rev. G. E. Hicks, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	11 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Charles Heale	Ada Hopkinson
BDM Match (86%)	Benjamin Charles Neale	Ada Hopkin
	💍 1921/9800
Condition	Widower (10th October 1919)	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Clerical work
Age	34	43
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	2490
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hicks, 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).