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 Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar S. Tyson

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 Lister
Ivy Elizabeth Richardson

Henry Reid Lister
Ivy Elizabeth Richardson
💍 1921/9796

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Stenographer and Book keeper

43
25

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Chapel of the Holy Evangelists, Bishopdale

21/2486

8 March 1921

Rev. Bishop W. C. Sadlier, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	8 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Reid Lister	Ivy Elizabeth Richardson
	💍 1921/9796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Stenographer and Book keeper
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Chapel of the Holy Evangelists, Bishopdale
Folio	21/2486
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Bishop W. C. Sadlier, Church of England

9 March 1921

Thomas Gortley Wilkes
Irene Elza Taylor

Thomas Gortley Wilkes
Irene Elza Taylor
💍 1921/9797

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Inspector
Book keeper

26
21

Wanganui
Nelson

8 months
8 months

Christ church Cathedral, Nelson

21/2487

9 March 1921

Mr. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	9 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gortley Wilkes	Irene Elza Taylor
	💍 1921/9797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Inspector	Book keeper
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Nelson
Length of Residence	8 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Christ church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	21/2487
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

10 March 1921

Joseph Wood
Inez 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, Nile Street, Nelson

21/2488

10 March 1921

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	10 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	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, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	21/2488
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

11 March 1921

Wilfred Robert Giblin
Kathleen Percival

Wilfred Robert Giblin
Kathleen Percival
💍 1921/9799

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Photographer

26
21

Nelson
Nelson

26 years
21 years

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

21/2489

11 March 1921

Rev. H. W. Austin, Church of England

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

11 March 1921

Benjamin Charles Neale
Ada Hopkin

Benjamin Charles Neale
Ada Hopkin
💍 1921/9800

Widower (10-10-1919)
Spinster

Accountant
Clerical work

37
43

Nelson
Nelson

37 years
9 years

Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson

21/2490

11 March 1921

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	11 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Charles Neale	Ada Hopkin
	💍 1921/9800
Condition	Widower (10-10-1919)	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Clerical work
Age	37	43
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	37 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	21/2490
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, 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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).