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 2539

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1923

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

521

29 May 1923

Gilbert Hay
Bertha Evelyn Cobeldick

Gilbert Hay
Bertha Evelyn Cobeldick
💍 1923/3163

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

43
29

Sumner
Sumner

2 months
1 week

Residence of Rev. J. Tennent, 16 Spence Street, St. Albans

3164

29 May 1923

J. Tennent, Presbyterian

No	521
Date of Notice	29 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Hay	Bertha Evelyn Cobeldick
	💍 1923/3163
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	29
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Sumner
Length of Residence	2 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. Tennent, 16 Spence Street, St. Albans
Folio	3164
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Tennent, Presbyterian

522

29 May 1923

Charles Graham
Minnie Baylis

Charles Graham
Minnie Baylis
💍 1923/3164

Bachelor
Widow

Railway Employee

45
41

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
8 years

Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

3165

29 May 1923

W. A. Hay, Methodist

No	522
Date of Notice	29 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Graham	Minnie Baylis
	💍 1923/3164
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	45	41
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	3165
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1923
Officiating Minister	W. A. Hay, Methodist

523

29 May 1923

Maxwell Hugh Boyd
Irene Wafking Powell

Maxwell Hugh Boyd
Irene Mafeking Powell
💍 1923/3165

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Salesman

31
23

Christchurch
St. Albans

3 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Berwick Street, St. Albans

3166

29 May 1923

J. Tennent, Presbyterian

No	523
Date of Notice	29 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maxwell Hugh Boyd	Irene Wafking Powell
BDM Match (95%)	Maxwell Hugh Boyd	Irene Mafeking Powell
	💍 1923/3165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Salesman
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Berwick Street, St. Albans
Folio	3166
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Tennent, Presbyterian

524

29 May 1923

Harry Father Dobson
Frances Susannah Dann

Harry Faber Dobson
Frances Susannah Dann
💍 1923/3166

Widower
Spinster

Butcher

51
62

Belfast
Kaiapoi

12 years
40 years

Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown

3167

29 May 1923

C. A. Fraer, Anglican

No	524
Date of Notice	29 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Father Dobson	Frances Susannah Dann
BDM Match (95%)	Harry Faber Dobson	Frances Susannah Dann
	💍 1923/3166
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	51	62
Dwelling Place	Belfast	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	12 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown
Folio	3167
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1923
Officiating Minister	C. A. Fraer, Anglican

525

30 May 1923

Hubert Sidney Robinson
Florence Idalia Pole

Hubert Sidney Robinson
Florence Idalia Pole
💍 1923/10034

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Buyer Clerk

33
33

Christchurch
Bromley

5 years
7 years

St. John's Church, Woolston

5190

30 May 1923

F. Dunnage, Anglican

No	525
Date of Notice	30 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Sidney Robinson	Florence Idalia Pole
	💍 1923/10034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Buyer Clerk
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Bromley
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Woolston
Folio	5190
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1923
Officiating Minister	F. Dunnage, Anglican

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).