Intentions to Marry, 1922 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840509, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922f contains pages 2059-2580, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2297

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar Wm. Pratt

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

4 April 1922

William Connor
Margaret Atkinson

William Connor
Margaret Atkinson
💍 1922/4880

Robert William Bassett
Margaret Atkinson
💍 1922/5340

Widower, Wife died 26th December 1920
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

37
36

Arahura
Arahura

15 years
36 years

Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

4493

4 April 1922

Rev. P.B. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	4 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Connor	Margaret Atkinson
	💍 1922/4880
BDM Match (68%)	Robert William Bassett	Margaret Atkinson
	💍 1922/5340
Condition	Widower, Wife died 26th December 1920	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Arahura	Arahura
Length of Residence	15 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hokitika
Folio	4493
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.B. Fraser, Presbyterian

7 April 1922

Clarence Edward Atkinson
Violet Zealandia Surgenor

Clarence Edward Atkinson
Violet Zealandia Surgenor
💍 1922/4881

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
23

Mananui
Rimu

37 years
23 years

Presbyterian Manse, Hokitika

4494

7 April 1922

Rev. P.B. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	7 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Edward Atkinson	Violet Zealandia Surgenor
	💍 1922/4881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Mananui	Rimu
Length of Residence	37 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Hokitika
Folio	4494
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.B. Fraser, Presbyterian

15 April 1922

Norman Sydney Wilson
Florence Martin

Norman Sydney Wilson
Florence Martin
💍 1922/4883

Bachelor
Widow, Husband died 11th October 1917

Sawmiller
Domestic duties

30
31

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 years
30 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika

4495

15 April 1922

Rev. A.C.T. Purchas, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	15 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Sydney Wilson	Florence Martin
	💍 1922/4883
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, Husband died 11th October 1917
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic duties
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 years	30 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Hokitika
Folio	4495
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.C.T. Purchas, Anglican

21 April 1922

Joseph Kenneth Norman Wilde
Mary Elizabeth Black

Joseph Kenneth Norman Wilde
May Elizabeth Black
💍 1922/4884

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor lorry driver
Cook

23
23

Hokitika
Hokitika

5 months
23 years

Church of England, Hokitika

4496

21 April 1922

Rev. A.C.T. Purchas, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	21 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Kenneth Norman Wilde	Mary Elizabeth Black
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Kenneth Norman Wilde	May Elizabeth Black
	💍 1922/4884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor lorry driver	Cook
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	5 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hokitika
Folio	4496
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.C.T. Purchas, Anglican

26 April 1922

Francis Walter Foster
Ellen Anderson

Francis William Foster
Ellen Anderson
💍 1922/4885

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways
Domestic duties

22
21

Hokitika
Woodstock

3 days
6 weeks

Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika

4497

26 April 1922

Rev. J. Riordan, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	26 April 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Walter Foster	Ellen Anderson
BDM Match (89%)	Francis William Foster	Ellen Anderson
	💍 1922/4885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Woodstock
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hokitika
Folio	4497
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Riordan, Roman Catholic

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).