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 2182

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Wairau Registrar O. W. Butcher

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

18 July 1921

Richard Arthur Badman
Helen Mahalia Ohlson

Richard Arthur Badman
Helen Mahalia Ohlson
💍 1921/4340

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Clerk

24
23

Grovetown
Blenheim

24 years
18 months

Church of Nativity, Blenheim

7651

18 July 1921

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	18 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Arthur Badman	Helen Mahalia Ohlson
	💍 1921/4340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Blenheim
Length of Residence	24 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Church of Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	7651
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

19 July 1921

Noel Edward Newcombe Fairhall
Annie Elinor Wilkins

Noel Edward Newcombe Fairhall
Annie Elinor Wilkins
💍 1921/4351

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
28

Rapaura
Blenheim

28 years

Residence of Mr. A. E. Wilkins, Muller Rd, Blenheim

7652

19 July 1921

Rev. W. Woolstein (Wollstein), Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	19 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noel Edward Newcombe Fairhall	Annie Elinor Wilkins
	💍 1921/4351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Rapaura	Blenheim
Length of Residence	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. E. Wilkins, Muller Rd, Blenheim
Folio	7652
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Woolstein (Wollstein), Church of England

20 July 1921

Wilfred Lester Satherley
Edna Luiella Drinkwater

Wilfred Lester Satherley
Edna Luiella Drinkwater
💍 1921/4358

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
18

Blenheim
Blenheim

21 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

7653

Thomas George Drinkwater, Father

20 July 1921

Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	20 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Lester Satherley	Edna Luiella Drinkwater
	💍 1921/4358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	21 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	7653
Consent	Thomas George Drinkwater, Father
Date of Certificate	20 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

22 July 1921

Charles Guerin
Edith Mary Gamble

Charles Guerin
Edith Mary Gamble
💍 1921/4359

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Saleswoman

24
27

Blenheim
Blenheim

1 week
2 weeks

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim

7654

22 July 1921

Rev. J. Heffernan, Roman Catholic

No	62
Date of Notice	22 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Guerin	Edith Mary Gamble
	💍 1921/4359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Saleswoman
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	1 week	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	7654
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Heffernan, Roman Catholic

22 July 1921

Francis Bine Thomas
Doris Ruby Hunter

Francis Bine Thomas
Doris Ruby Hunter
💍 1921/4360

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist
Domestic Duties

25
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

25 years
11 years

Church of Nativity, Blenheim

7655

Charles Hunter, father

22 July 1921

No	63
Date of Notice	22 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Bine Thomas	Doris Ruby Hunter
	💍 1921/4360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	25 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	7655
Consent	Charles Hunter, father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1921
Officiating Minister

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).