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 2208

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

26 January 1922

John Roland Shimmersdale Hope
Florence Gertrude Turner

John Roland Skimmersdale Hope
Florence Gertrude Turner
💍 1922/3317

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
School teacher

38
21

D'Urville Island
Whangamoa

38 years
12 years

Dwelling of Charles Turner, Whangamoa

2004

20 January 1922

Rev. A. Heron, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	26 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roland Shimmersdale Hope	Florence Gertrude Turner
BDM Match (98%)	John Roland Skimmersdale Hope	Florence Gertrude Turner
	💍 1922/3317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	School teacher
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	D'Urville Island	Whangamoa
Length of Residence	38 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Charles Turner, Whangamoa
Folio	2004
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Heron, Church of England

24 January 1922

John James Webb
Emily Victoria Firth

John James Webb
Emily Victoria Firth
💍 1922/3318

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 18th October 1918)

Civil Servant
Domestic duties

46
49

Nelson
Nelson

1 month
1 day

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

2005

24 January 1922

E. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	24 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Webb	Emily Victoria Firth
	💍 1922/3318
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 18th October 1918)
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic duties
Age	46	49
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 month	1 day
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	2005
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1922
Officiating Minister	E. Shanaghan, Deputy Registrar

6 February 1922

John Henry Byrne
Maria Constance Shapp

John Henry Byrne
Clara Constance Stapp
💍 1922/3319

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Shop-Assistant

28
30

Nelson
Nelson

6 months
20 years

St. Marys Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

2006

6 February 1922

Rev. D. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	6 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Byrne	Maria Constance Shapp
BDM Match (91%)	John Henry Byrne	Clara Constance Stapp
	💍 1922/3319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Shop-Assistant
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	2006
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

14 February 1922

William Ernest Frederick Gensemann
Ethel Mary Edmondson

William Ernest Frederick Bensemann
Ethel Mary Edmondson
💍 1922/3320

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
32

Upper Moutere
Nelson

34 years
32 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

2007

18 February 1922

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	14 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Frederick Gensemann	Ethel Mary Edmondson
BDM Match (99%)	William Ernest Frederick Bensemann	Ethel Mary Edmondson
	💍 1922/3320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Upper Moutere	Nelson
Length of Residence	34 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	2007
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

14 February 1922

Alexander Boyd Hannah
Doris Ethel Helena Claude Whitten

Alexander Boyd Hannah
Doris Ethel Helena Maude Witten
💍 1922/3321

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Law Clerk

24
21

Nelson
Nelson

2 years
15 years

Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson

2008

18 February 1922

Rev. J. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	14 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Boyd Hannah	Doris Ethel Helena Claude Whitten
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander Boyd Hannah	Doris Ethel Helena Maude Witten
	💍 1922/3321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Law Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	2008
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Weeks, 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).