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 1399

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

101

26 July 1923

Douglas Nelson Lane
Mary Marguerite Wright

Douglas Nelson Lane
Mary Marguerite Wright
💍 1923/4459

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

22
19

Puketitiri
Puketapu

5 years
4 years

Anglican Church, Puketapu

6745

Philip Lowrey Wright, father

26 July 1923

R. F. Geddes, Church of England

No	101
Date of Notice	26 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Nelson Lane	Mary Marguerite Wright
	💍 1923/4459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Puketitiri	Puketapu
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Puketapu
Folio	6745
Consent	Philip Lowrey Wright, father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1923
Officiating Minister	R. F. Geddes, Church of England

102

30 July 1923

Ferdinand von Tempsky Kettle
Gladys May Bernau

Ferdinand von Tempsky Kettle
Gladys May Bernan
💍 1923/4460

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolbrokers Auctioneer
Domestic Duties

40
28

Napier
Napier

40 years
28 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

6746

30 July 1923

Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	102
Date of Notice	30 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ferdinand von Tempsky Kettle	Gladys May Bernau
BDM Match (97%)	Ferdinand von Tempsky Kettle	Gladys May Bernan
	💍 1923/4460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolbrokers Auctioneer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	40 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	6746
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Dean Mayne, Church of England

103

31 July 1923

William Arthur Richard Luff
Marjorie Helen West

William Arthur Richard Luff
Marjorie Helen West
💍 1923/4461

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Clerk

30
26

Napier, Wanganui
Napier

5 days, 12 months
3 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

6747

31 July 1923

Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	103
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Richard Luff	Marjorie Helen West
	💍 1923/4461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Clerk
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Napier, Wanganui	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days, 12 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	6747
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Dean Mayne, Church of England

104

31 July 1923

Francis Joseph Burton
Irene Marion Victoria Durrant

Francis Joseph Burton
Irene Marion Victoria Durrant
💍 1923/4462

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Dressmaker

22
22

Napier
Napier

2 years
22 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

6748

31 July 1923

B. K. Brierley, Church of England

No	104
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Burton	Irene Marion Victoria Durrant
	💍 1923/4462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Dressmaker
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	6748
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	B. K. Brierley, Church of England

105

1 August 1923

Leo William Bridge
Mary Airini Seamon

Leo William Bridge
Mary Airini Seamon
💍 1923/4463

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
25

Wellington
Napier

27 years
1 year

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

6749

1 August 1923

Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	105
Date of Notice	1 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo William Bridge	Mary Airini Seamon
	💍 1923/4463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Napier
Length of Residence	27 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	6749
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Dean Mayne, Church of England

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).