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 2349

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar J. W. [illegible]

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

20/23

4 April 1923

Fergus Barrowman
Elizabeth Evelyn Innes

Fergus Barrowman
Elizabeth Evelyn Innes
💍 1923/9252

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

44
29

Greymouth
Greymouth

35 years
29 years

Residence of Mrs. Innes, South Beach

4791

4 April 1923

Rev. J. N. Buttle, Presbyterian

No	20/23
Date of Notice	4 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fergus Barrowman	Elizabeth Evelyn Innes
	💍 1923/9252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	44	29
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	35 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Innes, South Beach
Folio	4791
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. N. Buttle, Presbyterian

21/23

3 May 1923

George Robert Heginbotham
Jessie Coburn

George Robert Heginbotham
Tassie Coburn
💍 1923/9253

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

31
28

Greymouth
Greymouth

2 days
4 weeks

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

4792

3 May 1923

Rev. Archdeacon A. J. Carr, Anglican

No	21/23
Date of Notice	3 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert Heginbotham	Jessie Coburn
BDM Match (92%)	George Robert Heginbotham	Tassie Coburn
	💍 1923/9253
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	4792
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon A. J. Carr, Anglican

22/23

9 May 1923

Albert Winchester
Ruby Emaline Boddy

Albert Winchester
Ruby Emaline Boddy
💍 1923/9254

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Clerk

27
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

4793

9 May 1923

Rev. J. N. Buttle, Presbyterian

No	22/23
Date of Notice	9 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Winchester	Ruby Emaline Boddy
	💍 1923/9254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Clerk
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	4793
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. N. Buttle, Presbyterian

23/23

16 May 1923

James Pugh Milner
Jessie Henderson

James Pugh Milner
Jessie Henderson
💍 1923/9255

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Waitress

27
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Greymouth

4794

16 May 1923

Rev. J. N. Buttle, Presbyterian

No	23/23
Date of Notice	16 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pugh Milner	Jessie Henderson
	💍 1923/9255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Waitress
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Greymouth
Folio	4794
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. N. Buttle, Presbyterian

24/23

22 May 1923

Ernest Mansfield Burr
Teresa Hynes

Ernest Mansfield Burr
Teresa Hynes
💍 1923/9256

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

22
17

Greymouth
Nelson Creek

3 days
17 years

Catholic Church, Greymouth

4795

Annie Hynes, Mother

22 May 1923

Rev. Father J. Long, Roman Catholic

No	24/23
Date of Notice	22 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Mansfield Burr	Teresa Hynes
	💍 1923/9256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Nelson Creek
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	4795
Consent	Annie Hynes, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. Long, Roman Catholic

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).