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 2273

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar W. M. L. Eggleston

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

9 January 1923

Stanley Bassett
Isabel Davidson Calder

Stanley Bassett
Isabel Davidson Calder
💍 1923/2475

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Dressmaker

32
35

Nelson (from Hokitika)
Nelson

3 days
20 years

Residence of Bride's Parents, Haven Road, Nelson

23/2194

9 January 1923

Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist Church

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Bassett	Isabel Davidson Calder
	💍 1923/2475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Nelson (from Hokitika)	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents, Haven Road, Nelson
Folio	23/2194
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist Church

15 January 1923

John Thomas Percival Tucker
Dorothy Louisa Head

John Thomas Percival Tucker
Dorothy Louisa Head
💍 1923/2477

Divorced, Decree Absolute 21-8-1922
Spinster

Retort setter and Builder
Drapers Assistant

56
28

Nelson
Nelson

9 months
2 years

Registrar's Office, Nelson

23/2195

25 January 1923

Registrar of marriages, Nelson

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Percival Tucker	Dorothy Louisa Head
	💍 1923/2477
Condition	Divorced, Decree Absolute 21-8-1922	Spinster
Profession	Retort setter and Builder	Drapers Assistant
Age	56	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Nelson
Folio	23/2195
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of marriages, Nelson

19 January 1923

William Joseph Linton
Mary Catherine Maguire

William Joseph Linton
Mary Catherine Maguire
💍 1923/2478

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Hand
Factory Hand

21
18

33 Washington Valley, Nelson
33 Washington Valley, Nelson

18 years
10 years

Residence of Bridegroom's Parents, 33 Washington Valley, Nelson

23/2196

Lucy Ada Maguire, mother

19 January 1923

Rev. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

No	3
Date of Notice	19 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Linton	Mary Catherine Maguire
	💍 1923/2478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Hand	Factory Hand
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	33 Washington Valley, Nelson	33 Washington Valley, Nelson
Length of Residence	18 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom's Parents, 33 Washington Valley, Nelson
Folio	23/2196
Consent	Lucy Ada Maguire, mother
Date of Certificate	19 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

22 January 1923

Harold McCoskrie
Mabel Grace Graham

Harold McCoskie
Mabel Grace Graham
💍 1923/2479

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Typiste

35
24

Nelson (from Auckland)
Nelson

1 day
1 month

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Nelson

23/2197

22 January 1923

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

No	4
Date of Notice	22 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold McCoskrie	Mabel Grace Graham
BDM Match (97%)	Harold McCoskie	Mabel Grace Graham
	💍 1923/2479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Typiste
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson (from Auckland)	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	1 month
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	23/2197
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

26 January 1923

Henry Farrell
Doris Lorna Campbell

Henry Farrell
Doris Lorna Campbell
💍 1923/2480

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

33
25

Bridge St, Nelson
27 Bridge St, Nelson

33 years
5 years

St Johns Church, Hardy St., Nelson

23/2198

26 January 1923

Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist Church

No	5
Date of Notice	26 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Farrell	Doris Lorna Campbell
	💍 1923/2480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Bridge St, Nelson	27 Bridge St, Nelson
Length of Residence	33 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Hardy St., Nelson
Folio	23/2198
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist Church

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).