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 2277

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

16 March 1923

Ernest John Burt
Lillian Reeves

Ernest John Burt
Lillian Reeves
💍 1923/2544

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Shop Assistant

22
28

Nelson
Nelson

8 yrs
28 yrs

Presbyterian Church at Nelson

23/2214

16 March 1923

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

No	21
Date of Notice	16 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Burt	Lillian Reeves
	💍 1923/2544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Shop Assistant
Age	22	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	8 yrs	28 yrs
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Nelson
Folio	23/2214
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

16 March 1923

Albert Thomas Hollister
Annie Emma Dando

Albert Thomas Hollister
Annie Emma Dando
💍 1923/2545

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Domestic Duties

35
34

Nelson
Nelson

13 yrs
16 yrs

Residence of bride's parents, 17 Hampden Street West, Nelson

23/2215

16 March 1923

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

No	22
Date of Notice	16 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thomas Hollister	Annie Emma Dando
	💍 1923/2545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Domestic Duties
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	13 yrs	16 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of bride's parents, 17 Hampden Street West, Nelson
Folio	23/2215
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

21 March 1923

Joseph Carey
Jane Lowrie

Joseph Carey
Jane Lowrie
💍 1923/2546

Widower (9-10-1921)
Widow (1-7-1919)

Retired Farmer
Household Duties

71
62

Nelson
Nelson

9 yrs
2 yrs

At Residence of Bridegroom, 142 Waimea Street, Nelson

23/2216

21 March 1923

Mr. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

No	23
Date of Notice	21 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Carey	Jane Lowrie
	💍 1923/2546
Condition	Widower (9-10-1921)	Widow (1-7-1919)
Profession	Retired Farmer	Household Duties
Age	71	62
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	At Residence of Bridegroom, 142 Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	23/2216
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Mr. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

22 March 1923

Arthur Edward Hutchinson
Edna Muriel Ayling

Arthur Edward Hutchinson
Edna Marice Ayling
💍 1923/2547

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic Duties

25
25

Nelson (from Wellington)
Nelson

1 day
15 mos.

English Cathedral, Nelson

23/2217

22 March 1923

Rev. Askew, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	22 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Hutchinson	Edna Muriel Ayling
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Edward Hutchinson	Edna Marice Ayling
	💍 1923/2547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson (from Wellington)	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	15 mos.
Marriage Place	English Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	23/2217
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Askew, Church of England

23 March 1923

Martin Grooby
Grace Rita Evelyn Friend

Martin Grooby
Grace Rita Evelyn Friend
💍 1923/2548

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Nelson (from Flat Creek Rai Valley)
Nelson

4 days
20 yrs

Private Residence, 140 Collingwood Street, Nelson

23/2218

Harry Friend, Father

23 March 1923

Mr. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

No	25
Date of Notice	23 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Grooby	Grace Rita Evelyn Friend
	💍 1923/2548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson (from Flat Creek Rai Valley)	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	20 yrs
Marriage Place	Private Residence, 140 Collingwood Street, Nelson
Folio	23/2218
Consent	Harry Friend, Father
Date of Certificate	23 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Mr. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

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).