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 2281

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

8 May 1923

Alfred Robinson
Minnie Bent

Alfred Robinson
Minnie Bent
💍 1923/9222

Widower (1918)
Widow (1919)

Carrier
Domestic Duties

50
48

Nelson
Nelson

11 years
11 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

23/4760

8 May 1923

W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	8 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Robinson	Minnie Bent
	💍 1923/9222
Condition	Widower (1918)	Widow (1919)
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	50	48
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	11 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
Folio	23/4760
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1923
Officiating Minister	W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

9 May 1923

Alfred Henry Williams
Charlotte Lloyd Williams

Alfred Henry Williams
Charlotte Lloyd Williams
💍 1923/9223

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
29

Maitai Valley
Maitai Valley

24 years
3 weeks

Residence of Mr. George Smith, Maitai Valley

23/4761

9 May 1923

Rev. Laird, Baptist

No	41
Date of Notice	9 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Williams	Charlotte Lloyd Williams
	💍 1923/9223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Maitai Valley	Maitai Valley
Length of Residence	24 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. George Smith, Maitai Valley
Folio	23/4761
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Laird, Baptist

22 May 1923

Henry Thomas Martin
Emily Rita Berry

Henry Thomas Martin
Emily Rita Berry
💍 1923/9224

Divorced (Decree absolute 16-3-1922)
Spinster

Grocers Assistant
Domestic

34
20

Nelson
Wakapuaka

34 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. John W. Martin, Wakapuaka

23/4762

Hannah Berry, mother

22 May 1923

Captain G. S. Montgomery, Salvation Army

No	42
Date of Notice	22 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Martin	Emily Rita Berry
	💍 1923/9224
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 16-3-1922)	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant	Domestic
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Wakapuaka
Length of Residence	34 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John W. Martin, Wakapuaka
Folio	23/4762
Consent	Hannah Berry, mother
Date of Certificate	22 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Captain G. S. Montgomery, Salvation Army

29 May 1923

George Cameron Ross
Marjorie Sybil Bateman

George Cameron Ross
Marjorie Sybil Bateman
💍 1923/9225

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

23
19

Nelson (from Picton)
Nelson (from Picton)

3 days
3 days

Residence of Bride's Parents, 17 Waimea Road, Nelson

23/4763

William Edwin Bateman, father

29 May 1923

Rev. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

No	43
Date of Notice	29 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cameron Ross	Marjorie Sybil Bateman
	💍 1923/9225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson (from Picton)	Nelson (from Picton)
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents, 17 Waimea Road, Nelson
Folio	23/4763
Consent	William Edwin Bateman, father
Date of Certificate	29 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

1 June 1923

Richard John Henderson Blyth
Frances May Pether

Richard John Henderson Blyth
Frances May Pether
💍 1923/9226

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairying
Teacher

27
30

Hawera
Port Nelson

3 years
7 months

St. Johns Methodist Church, Nelson

23/4764

1 June 1923

Rev. Hames, Methodist

No	44
Date of Notice	1 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Henderson Blyth	Frances May Pether
	💍 1923/9226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairying	Teacher
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Port Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Johns Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	23/4764
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hames, Methodist

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).