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 2100

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar W. M. Chaney

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

24 October 1922

Frederick Roy Wood
Ella Agnes Rhodes

Frederick Roy Wood
Ella Agnes Rhodes
💍 1922/9201

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

22/9070

24 October 1922

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	71
Date of Notice	24 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Roy Wood	Ella Agnes Rhodes
	💍 1922/9201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	22/9070
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

27 October 1922

Arthur Winifred Simmons
Jessie Rose Cresswell

Arthur Winifred Simmons
Jessie Rose Cresswell
💍 1922/9202

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic Duties

25
23

Redwoodtown
Riversdale

25 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

22/9071

27 October 1922

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	72
Date of Notice	27 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Winifred Simmons	Jessie Rose Cresswell
	💍 1922/9202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Redwoodtown	Riversdale
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	22/9071
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

17 November 1922

Walter Francis Newport
Cecelia Catherine Lacey

Walter Francis Newport
Cecilia Catherine Lacey
💍 1922/9203

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Duties

39
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

39 years
21 years

Catholic Church, Blenheim

22/9072

17 November 1922

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Catholic

No	73
Date of Notice	17 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Francis Newport	Cecelia Catherine Lacey
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Francis Newport	Cecilia Catherine Lacey
	💍 1922/9203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	39	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	39 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	22/9072
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Catholic

29 November 1922

Leonard Milsom Smith
Mabel Constance Young

Leonard Milsom Smith
Mabel Constance Young
💍 1922/9204

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
23

Springlands, Blenheim
Blenheim

24 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

22/9073

29 November 1922

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	74
Date of Notice	29 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Milsom Smith	Mabel Constance Young
	💍 1922/9204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Springlands, Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	24 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	22/9073
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

8 December 1922

Norman Charles Day
Maud Helen Toms

Norman Charles Day
Maud Helen Toms
💍 1922/60

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Shop Assistant

23
21

Blenheim
Springlands

23 years
8 years

Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands, Blenheim

22/9074

8 December 1922

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	8 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Charles Day	Maud Helen Toms
	💍 1922/60
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Shop Assistant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Springlands
Length of Residence	23 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands, Blenheim
Folio	22/9074
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1922
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).