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 524

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar J. 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

8 January 1923

William Francis Allison
Kathleen Hannah Brown

William Francis Allison
Kathleen Hannah Brown
💍 1923/2532

Widower
Widow

Brewery hand

39
34

Hamilton
Hamilton

16 months
3 years

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East

1477

8 January 1923

Rev M. Lowley, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	8 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Allison	Kathleen Hannah Brown
	💍 1923/2532
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Brewery hand
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	16 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East
Folio	1477
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev M. Lowley, Roman Catholic

12 January 1923

Donald Carey Blackie
Muriel Gladys Teresa Booker

Donald Carey Blackie
Muriel Gladys Teresa Booker
💍 1923/2533

Bachelor
Widow

Chiropractor

26
31

Hamilton
Newstead

6 years
20 years

Methodist Church Vestry, London Street, Hamilton

1478

12 January 1923

Rev J. D. McArthur, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	12 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Carey Blackie	Muriel Gladys Teresa Booker
	💍 1923/2533
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Chiropractor
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Newstead
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Vestry, London Street, Hamilton
Folio	1478
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. McArthur, Methodist

15 January 1923

John Hogarth
Margaret Ellen Kerr

John Hogarth
Margaret Ellen Kerr
💍 1923/2534

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

8 years
5 years

First Church, Frankton

1479

15 January 1923

Rev A. M. Aspland, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	15 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hogarth	Margaret Ellen Kerr
	💍 1923/2534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Frankton
Folio	1479
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Aspland, Presbyterian

15 January 1923

Frederick Robert Price
Ethelena Winifred De Ville

Frederick Roberts Price
Ethelend Wynifred De Ville
💍 1923/2535

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Employee

22
23

Hamilton
Hamilton

7 years
8 years

St George's Anglican Church, Frankton

1480

15 January 1923

Rev J. S. Harty, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	15 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Robert Price	Ethelena Winifred De Ville
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Roberts Price	Ethelend Wynifred De Ville
	💍 1923/2535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Employee
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St George's Anglican Church, Frankton
Folio	1480
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev J. S. Harty, Anglican

18 January 1923

James Arthur Spencer
Thelma Beryl Dally

James Arthur Spencer
Thelma Beryl Dally
💍 1923/2536

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

23
18

Newstead
Newstead

5 months
1 month

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

1481

Alfred Dally, Father

18 January 1923

Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	18 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Arthur Spencer	Thelma Beryl Dally
	💍 1923/2536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Newstead	Newstead
Length of Residence	5 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	1481
Consent	Alfred Dally, Father
Date of Certificate	18 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).