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 2084

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1922 Registrar C. E. 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

14 January 1922

George Noel Taylor
Mary Beatrice Pigou

George Noel Taylor
Mary Beatrice Pigou
💍 1922/3252

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Music Teacher

29
25

Blenheim
Spring Creek

3 days
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

22/1963

14 January 1922

Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	14 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Noel Taylor	Mary Beatrice Pigou
	💍 1922/3252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Music Teacher
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	22/1963
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

14 January 1922

Charles Henry Gleeson
Hazel Prudence Timms

Charles Henry Gleeson
Hazel Prudence Timms
💍 1922/3253

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
20

Renwicktown
Wairau Valley

29 years
20 years

Church of England, Wairau Valley

22/1964

Richard Ernest Timms, father

14 January 1922

Rev. G. A. Crossman, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	14 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Gleeson	Hazel Prudence Timms
	💍 1922/3253
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Wairau Valley
Length of Residence	29 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Wairau Valley
Folio	22/1964
Consent	Richard Ernest Timms, father
Date of Certificate	14 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Crossman, Church of England

16 January 1922

Arthur Blair
Evelyn Daisy Shaw

Arthur Blair
Evelyn Daisy Shaw
💍 1922/3254

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

31
20

Renwicktown
Renwicktown

2 years
20 years

Church of England, Renwicktown

22/1965

Sarah Margaret Shaw, mother

16 January 1922

Rev. G. A. Crossman, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	16 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Blair	Evelyn Daisy Shaw
	💍 1922/3254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Renwicktown
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Renwicktown
Folio	22/1965
Consent	Sarah Margaret Shaw, mother
Date of Certificate	16 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Crossman, Church of England

17 January 1922

George Edward Tomlinson
Flora Louisa Violet Mary McIntosh

George Edward Tomlinson
Flora Louisa Violet Mary McIntosh
💍 1922/3255

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic Duties

29
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

10 days
10 days

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

22/1966

17 January 1922

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	17 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Tomlinson	Flora Louisa Violet Mary McIntosh
	💍 1922/3255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	22/1966
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

26 January 1922

Merle Nelson Rayner
Elizabeth Helen Matilda Jenkins

Merle Nelson Rayner
Elizabeth Helen Matilda Jenkins
💍 1922/3256

Bachelor
Spinster

Mail Contractor
Household Duties

24
25

Hillersden
Blenheim

2 years
8 years

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

22/1967

26 January 1922

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	26 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Merle Nelson Rayner	Elizabeth Helen Matilda Jenkins
	💍 1922/3256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mail Contractor	Household Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Hillersden	Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	22/1967
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, 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).