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 2279

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar W. M. Egglestone

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

3 April 1923

Frank Reeves
Lillith Maud Ingham

Frank Reeves
Lillith Maude Ingham
💍 1923/9221

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Duties

24
21

Port Nelson
Nelson

24 years
21 years

House of Rev. J. Rogers, Nelson

23/4751

3 April 1923

Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Reeves	Lillith Maud Ingham
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Reeves	Lillith Maude Ingham
	💍 1923/9221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Port Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Rogers, Nelson
Folio	23/4751
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England

3 April 1923

Oliver Theodore Hill
Olive Florence Gwendolyne Hendry

Oliver Theodore Hill
Olive Florence Gwendolyne Hendry
💍 1923/9232

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

26
22

Nelson
Nelson

2 years
3 years

Church of Christ, Nelson

23/4752

3 April 1923

Rev. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

No	31
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Theodore Hill	Olive Florence Gwendolyne Hendry
	💍 1923/9232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Nelson
Folio	23/4752
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

4 April 1923

Harry Hargreaves
Mona Beatrice Bradcock

Harry Hargreaves
Mona Beatrice Bradcock
💍 1923/9239

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Hand
Office Clerk

30
20

Nelson
Nelson

30 years
20 years

All Saints' Church, Nelson

23/4753

Alfred Bradcock, father

4 April 1923

Rev. F. Pring Rowe, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	4 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hargreaves	Mona Beatrice Bradcock
	💍 1923/9239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Hand	Office Clerk
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	23/4753
Consent	Alfred Bradcock, father
Date of Certificate	4 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Pring Rowe, Church of England

5 April 1923

Norman Haase
Clarissa Emily Reta Winter

Norman Haase
Clarissa Emily Beta Winter
💍 1923/9240

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic Duties

24
21

Nelson
Nelson

24 years
21 years

Anglican Cathedral, Nelson

23/4754

5 April 1923

Rev. Askew, Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	5 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Haase	Clarissa Emily Reta Winter
BDM Match (98%)	Norman Haase	Clarissa Emily Beta Winter
	💍 1923/9240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	23/4754
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Askew, Church of England

10 April 1923

Charles Arnold Briggs
Ena May Lunn

Charles Arnold Briggs
Ena May Lunn
💍 1923/9241

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
17

Stoke
Nelson

2 years
4 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

23/4755

Daisy Brunnell (formerly Lunn), mother

10 April 1923

W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	10 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Arnold Briggs	Ena May Lunn
	💍 1923/9241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Stoke	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	23/4755
Consent	Daisy Brunnell (formerly Lunn), mother
Date of Certificate	10 April 1923
Officiating Minister	W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

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).