Intentions to Marry, 1923 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840515, 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.

1923d contains pages 1335-1744, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1355

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar Robert Braithwaite

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

22 February 1923

William Henry Robert Sparling
Freda Hollings Harbord

William Henry Robert Sparling
Freda Hollings Harbord
💍 1923/2248

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
18

Hastings
Hastings

2 years
15 years

Residence of Mr Samuel, Gray Road, Hastings

1841

John James Harbord, Father, Hastings

22 February 1923

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	22 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Robert Sparling	Freda Hollings Harbord
	💍 1923/2248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Samuel, Gray Road, Hastings
Folio	1841
Consent	John James Harbord, Father, Hastings
Date of Certificate	22 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

24 February 1923

Aubrey Thayer Bedingfield
Eileen Christina Hall

Aubray Thayer Bedingfield
Eileen Christina Hall
💍 1923/2249

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

20
21

Hastings
Napier

3 days
-

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

1842

Mrs. Clara Mary Bedingfield, Mother, Napier

24 February 1923

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	24 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aubrey Thayer Bedingfield	Eileen Christina Hall
BDM Match (98%)	Aubray Thayer Bedingfield	Eileen Christina Hall
	💍 1923/2249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	-
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	1842
Consent	Mrs. Clara Mary Bedingfield, Mother, Napier
Date of Certificate	24 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

1 March 1923

William John Lord
Kathleen Lucy Marriott

William John Lord
Kathleen Lucy Marriott
💍 1923/2250

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

26
24

Hastings
Hastings

12 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

1843

1 March 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	1 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Lord	Kathleen Lucy Marriott
	💍 1923/2250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	12 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	1843
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

6 March 1923

Cecil Coles
Rosanna Maye Charters

Cecil Coles
Rosanna Maye Charters
💍 1923/2982

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Shop Assistant

25
23

Hastings
Onga Onga

2 years
7 years

English Church, Onga Onga

2681

6 March 1923

Rev. Canon Butterfield, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	6 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Coles	Rosanna Maye Charters
	💍 1923/2982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Shop Assistant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Onga Onga
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Onga Onga
Folio	2681
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Butterfield, Anglican

6 March 1923

Peter Neilsen
Christine Cora Johnston

Peter Neilsen
Christine Cora Johnston
💍 1923/2251

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

28
23

Hastings
Hastings

3 years
5 months

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

1844

6 March 1923

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	6 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Neilsen	Christine Cora Johnston
	💍 1923/2251
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	1844
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

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).