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 2176

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar O. E. 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

3 May 1921

Alfred Hart
Adelina Maude Coward

Alfred Hart
Adelina Maude Coward
💍 1921/6966

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

25
27

Okaramio
Ugbrooke

25 years
27 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

21/5152

3 May 1921

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	3 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hart	Adelina Maude Coward
	💍 1921/6966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Okaramio	Ugbrooke
Length of Residence	25 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5152
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

7 May 1921

Alfred John Anderson
Florence Patterson

Alfred John Anderson
Florence Patterson
💍 1921/6973

Bachelor
Widow (4-12-1918)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
25

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 days
4 days

St Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim

21/5153

Rev. Father Heffernan, Roman Catholic

No	39
Date of Notice	7 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Anderson	Florence Patterson
	💍 1921/6973
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (4-12-1918)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5153
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Heffernan, Roman Catholic

16 May 1921

William Charles Hellyer Priddle
Marion Edith Benning

William Charles Hellyer Priddle
Marion Edith Benning
💍 1921/6974

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

26
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

26 years
18 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

21/5154

16 May 1921

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

No	40
Date of Notice	16 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Hellyer Priddle	Marion Edith Benning
	💍 1921/6974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	21/5154
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

25 May 1921

Keith James Hall Lammas
Amy Beatrice Rogers

Keith James Hall Lammas
Amy Beatrice Rogers
💍 1921/6975

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
17

Blenheim
Blenheim

18 years
17 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

21/5155

Henry William Rogers, Father

25 May 1921

C. E. Butcher, Registrar

No	41
Date of Notice	25 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith James Hall Lammas	Amy Beatrice Rogers
	💍 1921/6975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	18 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio	21/5155
Consent	Henry William Rogers, Father
Date of Certificate	25 May 1921
Officiating Minister	C. E. Butcher, Registrar

31 May 1921

Arthur Edward Blick
Edith Pestell Wooster

Arthur Edward Blick
Edith Pestell Wooster
💍 1921/6976

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

31
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

30 years
1 year

Residence of R. Wooster, Rogers St., Blenheim

21/5156

31 May 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	42
Date of Notice	31 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Blick	Edith Pestell Wooster
	💍 1921/6976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	30 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of R. Wooster, Rogers St., Blenheim
Folio	21/5156
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, 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).