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 1365

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

2 July 1923

William John Gray
Mary Florence Jane Hewitt

William John Gray
Mary Florence Jane Hewitt
💍 1923/4430

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic duties

28
24

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
4 years

St Matthews Church, Hastings

6715

2 July 1923

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	53
Date of Notice	2 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Gray	Mary Florence Jane Hewitt
	💍 1923/4430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	6715
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

4 July 1923

Henry Charles Lawlor
Ursula Muriel Scheele

Henry Charles Lawlor
Ursula Muriel Scheele
💍 1923/4431

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Clerk
Domestic duties

28
28

Hastings
Hastings

15 years
2 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hastings

6716

4 July 1923

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	4 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Lawlor	Ursula Muriel Scheele
	💍 1923/4431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	6716
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

23 July 1923

Frank Renwick Westneat
Ada Helena Orchard

Frank Renwick Westneat
Ada Helena Orchard
💍 1923/10431

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z. Railways
Domestic duties

28
29

Wanganui
Hastings

3 weeks
24 years

Church of England, Hastings

6717

23 July 1923

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	55
Date of Notice	23 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Renwick Westneat	Ada Helena Orchard
	💍 1923/10431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z. Railways	Domestic duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 weeks	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hastings
Folio	6717
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

23 July 1923

Leonard Baddiley
Muriel Maud Vare

Leonard Baddiley
Muriel Maud Vare
💍 1923/4432

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Music teacher

27
28

Hastings
Hastings

4 days
5 years

Baptist Church, Hastings

6718

23 July 1923

Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

No	56
Date of Notice	23 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Baddiley	Muriel Maud Vare
	💍 1923/4432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Music teacher
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hastings
Folio	6718
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

31 July 1923

Cecil Joseph Phillips
Marjorie Rayner Field

Cecil Joseph Phillips
Marjorie Rayner Field
💍 1923/4470

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Salesman
Domestic duties

22
22

Havelock North
Havelock North

22 years
9 years

English Church, Havelock North

6734

31 July 1923

Rev. Canon Maclean, Anglican

No	57
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Joseph Phillips	Marjorie Rayner Field
	💍 1923/4470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	22 years	9 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Havelock North
Folio	6734
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Maclean, 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).