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 2419

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar Morowink

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 May 1923

Thomas Moffat Hampton
Mabel Beatrice Thompson Vigers

Thomas Moffat Hampton
Mabel Beatrice Thompson Vigers
💍 1923/9384

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

35
39

Ashburton
Ashburton

35 years
10 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

4821

3 May 1923

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	3 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Moffat Hampton	Mabel Beatrice Thompson Vigers
	💍 1923/9384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	35	39
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	35 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	4821
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

5 May 1923

Joseph Shipley Roberts
Anne Florence Blackburn

Joseph Shipley Roberts
Annie Florence Blackburn
💍 1923/9385

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

35
33

Ashburton
Ashburton

35 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton

4822

5 May 1923

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	32
Date of Notice	5 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Shipley Roberts	Anne Florence Blackburn
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Shipley Roberts	Annie Florence Blackburn
	💍 1923/9385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	35 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton
Folio	4822
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

9 May 1923

Miriam James Field
Matilda Reddie
formerly Lodge

William James Field
Matilda Reddie
💍 1923/9386

Bachelor
Widow

carter
domestic duties

50
38

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Tinwald

4823

9 May 1923

Rev. A. H. Barnett, Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	9 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Miriam James Field	Matilda Reddie formerly Lodge
BDM Match (92%)	William James Field	Matilda Reddie
	💍 1923/9386
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	carter	domestic duties
Age	50	38
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tinwald
Folio	4823
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Barnett, Church of England

11 May 1923

Cyril Richard Thes Rickard
Agnes Sarah Hickman

Cyril Richard Theo Rickard
Agnes Sarah Hickman
💍 1923/9387

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
27

Ashburton
Ashburton

34 years
6 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

4824

11 May 1923

Rev. A. S. Morrison M.A., Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	11 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Richard Thes Rickard	Agnes Sarah Hickman
BDM Match (98%)	Cyril Richard Theo Rickard	Agnes Sarah Hickman
	💍 1923/9387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	4824
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Morrison M.A., Presbyterian

11 May 1923

Arthur Neill Clifford
Nellie Everest

Arthur Neill Clifford
Nellie Everest
💍 1923/9388

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
domestic duties

29
40

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 months
3 days

Methodist Church, Ashburton

4825

11 May 1923

Rev. J. W. Vealie, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	11 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Neill Clifford	Nellie Everest
	💍 1923/9388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	domestic duties
Age	29	40
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	4825
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Vealie, 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).