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 2174

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar B. B. 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 April 1921

John Turnbull
Evelyn Ada Davies

John Turnbull
Evelyn Ada Davies
💍 1921/6938

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef
Domestic Duties

31
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

1 year
5 months

Residence of Adj. R. G. Lamond, Wynen St., Blenheim

21/5142

Alfred Davies, father of bride

18 April 1921

Adj. R. G. Lamond, Salvation Army

No	28
Date of Notice	18 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Turnbull	Evelyn Ada Davies
	💍 1921/6938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	1 year	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Adj. R. G. Lamond, Wynen St., Blenheim
Folio	21/5142
Consent	Alfred Davies, father of bride
Date of Certificate	18 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Adj. R. G. Lamond, Salvation Army

18 April 1921

Raymond Leslie Stent
Doris Myrtle Hill

Raymond Leslie Stent
Doris Myrtle Hill
💍 1921/6939

Divorced 4/6/1920
Spinster

Engineer Fitter
Shop Assistant

25
20

Blenheim
Blenheim

2 years
20 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

21/5143

Mary Hill, mother of bride

18 April 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	18 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Leslie Stent	Doris Myrtle Hill
	💍 1921/6939
Condition	Divorced 4/6/1920	Spinster
Profession	Engineer Fitter	Shop Assistant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5143
Consent	Mary Hill, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	18 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

19 April 1921

Felix Charles O'Sullivan
Daisy Guard

Felix Charles O'Sullivan
Daisy Guard
💍 1921/6940

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

38
28

Tua Marina
Blenheim

38 years
3 years

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim

21/5144

19 April 1921

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	30
Date of Notice	19 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Charles O'Sullivan	Daisy Guard
	💍 1921/6940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Tua Marina	Blenheim
Length of Residence	38 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5144
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

26 April 1921

Frederick Faulding
Kathleen Phoebe Berg

Frederick Faulding
Kathleen Phoebe Berg
💍 1921/6942

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
21

Spring Creek
Blenheim

26 years
21 years

St. Mary's Church, Blenheim

21/5145

26 April 1921

Rev. Father H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

No	31
Date of Notice	26 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Faulding	Kathleen Phoebe Berg
	💍 1921/6942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Blenheim
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/5145
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

26 April 1921

Frederick George Ashton
Alice Jessie Williams

Frederick George Ashton
Alice Jessie Williams
💍 1921/6943

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
26

Blenheim
Hillersden

26 years
26 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

21/5146

26 April 1921

Rev. G. A. Crossman, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	26 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Ashton	Alice Jessie Williams
	💍 1921/6943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Hillersden
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	21/5146
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Crossman, 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).