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 2285

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar W. M. Eggleton

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

2 July 1923

Joseph Richard Sutcliffe
Aileen Maggie Batchelor

Joseph Richard Sutcliffe
Aileen Maggie Batchelor
💍 1923/4773

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic

26
24

Wanganui
Nelson

1 year 10 months
24 years

St. Barnabas Church, Stoke

7074

2 July 1923

Rev. H. W. Austin, Church of England

No	56
Date of Notice	2 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Richard Sutcliffe	Aileen Maggie Batchelor
	💍 1923/4773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year 10 months	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Stoke
Folio	7074
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Austin, Church of England

3 July 1923

Edward Harold Wilson
Eva Jane McLachlan

Edward Harold Wilson
Eva Jane McLachlan
💍 1923/4774

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

29
27

Blenheim
Nelson

4 years
27 years

Methodist Church, Nelson

7075

3 July 1923

Rev. E. W. Hames, Methodist

No	57
Date of Notice	3 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Harold Wilson	Eva Jane McLachlan
	💍 1923/4774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	7075
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Hames, Methodist

6 July 1923

Walter Henry James Edge
Annie Pearl Boyd

Walter Henry James Edge
Annie Pearl Boyd
💍 1923/4782

Bachelor
Spinster

Brick-layer's Labourer
Laundress

22
17

Nelson
Nelson

12 months
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

7076

James Rosen Boyd, Father

6 July 1923

Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	6 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry James Edge	Annie Pearl Boyd
	💍 1923/4782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brick-layer's Labourer	Laundress
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	7076
Consent	James Rosen Boyd, Father
Date of Certificate	6 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McNeur, Presbyterian

9 July 1923

James John Phillips
Dorothy Violet Doolan

James John Phillips
Dorothy Violet Doolan
💍 1923/4793

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver N.Z. Govt. Rlys
Domestic

29
20

Lyttelton
Nelson

3 months
6 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson

7077

Violet Florence Doolan, Mother

9 July 1923

Rev. E. W. Hames, Methodist

No	59
Date of Notice	9 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James John Phillips	Dorothy Violet Doolan
	💍 1923/4793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver N.Z. Govt. Rlys	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	7077
Consent	Violet Florence Doolan, Mother
Date of Certificate	9 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Hames, Methodist

17 July 1923

William Allan
Louisa Rowe

William Allan
Louisa Rowe
💍 1923/4800

Widower (1-2-21)
Spinster

Cattle Dealer
Cook

63
46

Nelson
Nelson

6 days
3 years

Residence of the Bride, 19 Wainui Street, Nelson

7078

17 July 1923

Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

No	60
Date of Notice	17 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Allan	Louisa Rowe
	💍 1923/4800
Condition	Widower (1-2-21)	Spinster
Profession	Cattle Dealer	Cook
Age	63	46
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	6 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride, 19 Wainui Street, Nelson
Folio	7078
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Laird, Baptist

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).