Intentions to Marry, 1923 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840517, 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.

1923f contains pages 2125-2670, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2163

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar N. M. Chesney

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

4 August 1923

John Samuel Gill Barnes
Vera Theresa Guard

John Samuel Gill Barnes
Vera Theresa Guard
💍 1923/4734

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic Duties

28
24

Blenheim
Port Underwood

28 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

23/7036

4 August 1923

Rev Henry Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

No	48
Date of Notice	4 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel Gill Barnes	Vera Theresa Guard
	💍 1923/4734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Port Underwood
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	23/7036
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev Henry Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

6 August 1923

John Balfour McCallum
Kathleen Bell Robertson

John Balfour McCallum
Kathleen Bell Robertson
💍 1923/4735

Bachelor
Spinster

Flour Mill Manager
Domestic Duties

30
23

Blenheim
Spring Creek

30 years
23 years

Church of England, Spring Creek

23/7037

6 August 1923

Ven Arch G. W. York, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	6 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Balfour McCallum	Kathleen Bell Robertson
	💍 1923/4735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flour Mill Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	30 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Spring Creek
Folio	23/7037
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Ven Arch G. W. York, Church of England

14 August 1923

Roy Augustus Mears
Elsie Evelyn Meads

Roy Augustus Mears
Elsie Evelyn Meads
💍 1923/4736

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

26
24

Blenheim
Para

3 days
24 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

23/7038

14 August 1923

Rev Frank Bateup, Methodist

No	50
Date of Notice	14 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Augustus Mears	Elsie Evelyn Meads
	💍 1923/4736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Para
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	23/7038
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev Frank Bateup, Methodist

13 August 1923

William Robert Jones
Doris Lilian Corbett

William Robert Jones
Doris Lilian Corbett
💍 1923/4737

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Domestic Duties

22
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

2 days
3 weeks

Church of England, Spring Creek

23/7039

13 August 1923

Canon William Wollstein, Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	13 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Jones	Doris Lilian Corbett
	💍 1923/4737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Spring Creek
Folio	23/7039
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Canon William Wollstein, Church of England

28 August 1923

James Cruickshank Robb
Isabel Florence Hodgson

James Cruickshank Robb
Isabel Florence Hodgson
💍 1923/4738

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
22

Blenheim
Blenheim

22 years
22 years

Residence of William Hodgson, Francis Street, Blenheim

23/7040

28 August 1923

Rev E. J. King, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	28 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cruickshank Robb	Isabel Florence Hodgson
	💍 1923/4738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Hodgson, Francis Street, Blenheim
Folio	23/7040
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev E. J. King, 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).