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 1359

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar R. 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

3 April 1923

Christopher Martin
Gladys Kathleen Wilson

Christopher Martin
Gladys Kathleen Wilson
💍 1923/8971

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Law Clerk

27
23

Hastings
Hastings

2 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

4382

3 April 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Martin	Gladys Kathleen Wilson
	💍 1923/8971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Law Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	4382
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

3 April 1923

Frank Hollis Stretton
Eileen Thelma Gleeson

Frank Hollis Stretton
Eileen Thelma Gleeson
💍 1923/8972

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

25
23

Hastings
Havelock North

5 years
12 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4383

3 April 1923

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	27
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hollis Stretton	Eileen Thelma Gleeson
	💍 1923/8972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Havelock North
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4383
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

4 April 1923

Harold Howlett
Dulcie Merle Palmer

Harold Howlett
Dulcie Merle Palmer
💍 1923/8973

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

25
23

Twyford, Hastings
Havelock North

25 years
13 years

Baptist Church, Hastings

4384

4 April 1923

Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

No	28
Date of Notice	4 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Howlett	Dulcie Merle Palmer
	💍 1923/8973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Twyford, Hastings	Havelock North
Length of Residence	25 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hastings
Folio	4384
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

4 April 1923

William Rogerson Clark
Catherine Dick Gray

William Rogerson Clark
Catherine Dick Gray
💍 1923/8950

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

36
29

Hastings
Napier

4 years
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Napier

4385

4 April 1923

Rev. Asher, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	4 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rogerson Clark	Catherine Dick Gray
	💍 1923/8950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	4385
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Asher, Presbyterian

6 April 1923

Eric Vizard Suckling
Lilly Sophia Emily Burling

Eric Vizard Suckling
Lilly Sophia Emily Burling
💍 1923/8951

Divorced (Decree Absolute 24 February 1923)
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

26
27

Hastings
Hastings

4 years
11 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

4386

6 April 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	6 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Vizard Suckling	Lilly Sophia Emily Burling
	💍 1923/8951
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 24 February 1923)	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	4386
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, 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).