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 2347

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar J. W. Indoe

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

28 February 1923

Joseph Hazeldine
Christina Campbell Kerr

Joseph Hazeldine
Christina Campbell Kerr
💍 1923/1074

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Cook

27
25

Greymouth
Greymouth

20 years
9 months

Dwelling of Mrs Hazeldine, Preston Road, Greymouth

2248

28 February 1923

James Lambeton, Salvation Army

No	11
Date of Notice	28 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hazeldine	Christina Campbell Kerr
	💍 1923/1074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Cook
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	20 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Hazeldine, Preston Road, Greymouth
Folio	2248
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1923
Officiating Minister	James Lambeton, Salvation Army

5 March 1923

Arthur Isaac Freeman
Olive Maysell Boustridge

Arthur Isaiah Freeman
Olive Maysel Boustridge
💍 1923/1075

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

23
19

Runanga
Runanga

14 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

2249

Francis Frederick Boustridge, Father

5 March 1923

A. J. Farnell, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	5 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Isaac Freeman	Olive Maysell Boustridge
BDM Match (93%)	Arthur Isaiah Freeman	Olive Maysel Boustridge
	💍 1923/1075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	14 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	2249
Consent	Francis Frederick Boustridge, Father
Date of Certificate	5 March 1923
Officiating Minister	A. J. Farnell, Church of England

6 March 1923

Frederick Charles Stubbington
Ada Beatrice Violetta Hawley

Frederick Charles Stubbington
Ada Beatrice Violetta Hawley
💍 1923/1076

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 19th February 1923)

Labourer

28
36

Inchbonnie
Greymouth

4 days

Registrar's office, Greymouth

2250

6 March 1923

J. W. Indoe, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

No	13
Date of Notice	6 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Stubbington	Ada Beatrice Violetta Hawley
	💍 1923/1076
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 19th February 1923)
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	36
Dwelling Place	Inchbonnie	Greymouth
Length of Residence		4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Greymouth
Folio	2250
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. W. Indoe, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

10 March 1923

Peter Thompson
Isabella Raeburn

Peter Thompson
Isabella Raeburn
💍 1923/2564

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 21st January 1923)

Coal Miner
Domestic

45
38

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days
3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

2251

10 March 1923

J. W. Indoe, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

No	14
Date of Notice	10 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Thompson	Isabella Raeburn
	💍 1923/2564
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 21st January 1923)
Profession	Coal Miner	Domestic
Age	45	38
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	2251
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. W. Indoe, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

14 March 1923

Frank Murray Arthur
Mary Annie Pugh

Frank Murray Arthur
Mary Annie Pugh
💍 1923/2575

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

21
24

Royal Hotel, Greymouth
Herbert St., Greymouth

9 months
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

2252

14 March 1923

J. N. Cuttle, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	14 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Murray Arthur	Mary Annie Pugh
	💍 1923/2575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Royal Hotel, Greymouth	Herbert St., Greymouth
Length of Residence	9 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	2252
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. N. Cuttle, Presbyterian

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).