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 2210

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1922 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

3 March 1922

Thomas Ankers
Rachel Meapham

Thomas Ankers House
Rachel Meopham
💍 1922/3303

Widower
Divorced

Coachbuilder
Domestic duties

63
34

Nelson
Nelson

4 years
5 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2014

3 March 1922

S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	16
Date of Notice	3 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ankers	Rachel Meapham
BDM Match (81%)	Thomas Ankers House	Rachel Meopham
	💍 1922/3303
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Coachbuilder	Domestic duties
Age	63	34
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2014
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1922
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

9 March 1922

Edgar Henry Challies
Phoebe Billford Palmer

Edgar Henry Challies
Phoebe Lillford Palmer
💍 1922/3304

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
24

Nelson
Wakapuaka

1 day
9 days

Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson

2015

9 March 1922

Rev. J.G. Weeks, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	9 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Henry Challies	Phoebe Billford Palmer
BDM Match (98%)	Edgar Henry Challies	Phoebe Lillford Palmer
	💍 1922/3304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Wakapuaka
Length of Residence	1 day	9 days
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	2015
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.G. Weeks, Church of England

21 March 1922

Philip William Roy Hawke
Thelma Gladys Small

Philip William Hoy Hawke
Thelma Gladys Small
💍 1922/3305

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Domestic duties

18
19

Nelson
Nelson

18 years
2 years

Dwelling of William Hawke, Nile Street East, Nelson

2016

William Hawke, father; Albert Small, father

21 March 1922

Rev. J.G. Weeks, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	21 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip William Roy Hawke	Thelma Gladys Small
BDM Match (98%)	Philip William Hoy Hawke	Thelma Gladys Small
	💍 1922/3305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Domestic duties
Age	18	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	18 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Hawke, Nile Street East, Nelson
Folio	2016
Consent	William Hawke, father; Albert Small, father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.G. Weeks, Church of England

28 March 1922

Ernest George Clifford
Nina Anne Leach

Ernest George Clifford
Nina Anne Leach
💍 1922/3306

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Line Foreman
Domestic duties

28
22

Wakapuaka
Wakapuaka

3 years
22 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2017

28 March 1922

S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

No	19
Date of Notice	28 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Clifford	Nina Anne Leach
	💍 1922/3306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Line Foreman	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wakapuaka	Wakapuaka
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2017
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1922
Officiating Minister	S. Tyson, Registrar of Marriages

29 March 1922

Lawrence Stewart Condell
Elizabeth Joyce Harley

Lawrence Stewart Condell
Elizabeth Joyce Harley
💍 1922/3308

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic duties

26
21

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
21 years

Dwelling of Alice Harley, Church Street, Nelson

2019

29 March 1922

Rev. Ja. Rogers, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	29 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Stewart Condell	Elizabeth Joyce Harley
	💍 1922/3308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Alice Harley, Church Street, Nelson
Folio	2019
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ja. Rogers, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).