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 532

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 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

16 March 1923

Herbert De Ville
Emily Moxsome Bader

Herbert De Ville
Emily Moxsom Baker
💍 1923/1975

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman

30
22

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 years
8 years

St Georges Anglican Church, Frankton

1515

16 March 1923

Rev. F.S. Charry, Anglican

No	46
Date of Notice	16 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert De Ville	Emily Moxsome Bader
BDM Match (95%)	Herbert De Ville	Emily Moxsom Baker
	💍 1923/1975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Anglican Church, Frankton
Folio	1515
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F.S. Charry, Anglican

17 March 1923

Peter Alexander Milicich
Florence Jessie Hardy

Peter Alexander Milicich
Florence Jessie Hardy
💍 1923/1976

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 20/12/22)

Dining room Proprietor

25
25

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 months
4 months

Registrars Office, Hamilton

1516

17 March 1923

Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	17 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Alexander Milicich	Florence Jessie Hardy
	💍 1923/1976
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 20/12/22)
Profession	Dining room Proprietor
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Hamilton
Folio	1516
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

19 March 1923

William Daisley
Elsie Mabel Ranby

William Daisley
Elsie Mabel Ranby
💍 1923/1977

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
25

Auckland
Hamilton

9 months
4 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Claudelands

1517

19 March 1923

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	19 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Daisley	Elsie Mabel Ranby
	💍 1923/1977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Hamilton
Length of Residence	9 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Claudelands
Folio	1517
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

21 March 1923

James Mitchell Henry
Edna Mary Giles

James Mitchell Henry
Edria Mary Giles
💍 1923/1978

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator

25
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

25 years
11 years

House of J.A. Giles, 55 Seddon Road, Frankton

1518

21 March 1923

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	21 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mitchell Henry	Edna Mary Giles
BDM Match (94%)	James Mitchell Henry	Edria Mary Giles
	💍 1923/1978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	25 years	11 years
Marriage Place	House of J.A. Giles, 55 Seddon Road, Frankton
Folio	1518
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

21 March 1923

Bertie Reuss Woolford
Constance May Raven

Bertie Reuses Woolford
Constance May Raven
💍 1923/2892

Bachelor
Spinster

Fibrous Plasterer

25
26

Hamilton
Hamilton

9 months
18 months

Baptist Church, Hamilton

2614

21 March 1923

Rev. H.G. Hercus, Baptist

No	50
Date of Notice	21 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Reuss Woolford	Constance May Raven
BDM Match (98%)	Bertie Reuses Woolford	Constance May Raven
	💍 1923/2892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fibrous Plasterer
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	9 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hamilton
Folio	2614
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.G. Hercus, Baptist

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).