Intentions to Marry, 1923 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840513, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923b contains pages 433-894, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 558

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar Ferguson

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

163

23 July 1923

William Atkins
Eliza Mary Bennet

William Atkins
Eliza Mary Bennet
💍 1923/4142

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

42
33

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 years
2 weeks

St George's Anglican Church, Frankton Junction

6340

23 July 1923

Rev. J. J. Harty, Anglican

No	163
Date of Notice	23 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Atkins	Eliza Mary Bennet
	💍 1923/4142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	42	33
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St George's Anglican Church, Frankton Junction
Folio	6340
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Harty, Anglican

164

27 July 1923

Andrew Blair Whyte
Vida Mary Clifford

Andrew Blair Whyte
Vida Mary Clifford
💍 1923/4151

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35
27

Hamilton
Morrinsville

4 years
27 years

St Matthew's Anglican Church, Morrinsville

6341

27 July 1923

Rev. J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

No	164
Date of Notice	27 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Blair Whyte	Vida Mary Clifford
	💍 1923/4151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Anglican Church, Morrinsville
Folio	6341
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

165

28 July 1923

Fredric Thomas Dudley
Winifred Selby

Fredric Thomas Dudley
Winifred Selby
💍 1923/4143

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 15:12:1919)

Surfaceman

23
33

Hamilton
Pukekohe

1 week
6 months

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

6342

28 July 1923

Registrar

No	165
Date of Notice	28 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredric Thomas Dudley	Winifred Selby
	💍 1923/4143
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 15:12:1919)
Profession	Surfaceman
Age	23	33
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	1 week	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	6342
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

166

31 July 1923

Francis Ernest Stewart
Louisa Gutteridge

Francis Ernest Stewart
Louisa Gulteridge
💍 1923/4144

Widower (10:5:1917)
Widow (26:12:1921)

Apiarist

55
44

Rotorua
Hamilton

9 years
15 years

House of Rev. H. G. Hercus, Hamilton

6343

31 July 1923

Rev. H. G. Hercus, Baptist

No	166
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Ernest Stewart	Louisa Gutteridge
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Ernest Stewart	Louisa Gulteridge
	💍 1923/4144
Condition	Widower (10:5:1917)	Widow (26:12:1921)
Profession	Apiarist
Age	55	44
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Hamilton
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. H. G. Hercus, Hamilton
Folio	6343
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Hercus, Baptist

167

2 August 1923

William Florence Sadler
Rebecca Anne Bustin

William Clarence Sadler
Rebecca Anne Bustin
💍 1923/4145

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
22

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 years
1 year

House of J. J. Sadler, Graham Street, Hamilton

6344

2 August 1923

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	167
Date of Notice	2 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Florence Sadler	Rebecca Anne Bustin
BDM Match (96%)	William Clarence Sadler	Rebecca Anne Bustin
	💍 1923/4145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	House of J. J. Sadler, Graham Street, Hamilton
Folio	6344
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, 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).