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 2420

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar Browne

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

19 May 1923

William John Roger
Margaret Winifred Ryan

William John Tozer
Margaret Winifred Ryan
💍 1923/9471

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

28
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

not stated
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

4826

19 May 1923

Very Rev Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	19 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Roger	Margaret Winifred Ryan
BDM Match (94%)	William John Tozer	Margaret Winifred Ryan
	💍 1923/9471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	not stated	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	4826
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Very Rev Dean O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

21 May 1923

Thomas Sydney Bird
Greta Milsom

Thomas Sydney Bird
Greta McInnes
💍 1923/9482

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
domestic duties

35
19

Ashburton
Ashburton

35 years
11 years

Church of England, Ashburton

4827

Miles Milsom, father of minor

21 May 1923

Rev F. A. Crawshaw, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	21 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sydney Bird	Greta Milsom
BDM Match (77%)	Thomas Sydney Bird	Greta McInnes
	💍 1923/9482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	domestic duties
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	35 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	4827
Consent	Miles Milsom, father of minor
Date of Certificate	21 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev F. A. Crawshaw, Church of England

25 May 1923

James Stanley Williams Weeks
Ivy Jane Armstrong

James Stanley Williams Weeks
Ivy Jane Armstrong
💍 1923/9488

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
domestic duties

34
21

Ashburton
Ashburton

8 years
18 months

Presbyterian Church, Lowcliffe

4828

25 May 1923

Rev Robert McCully BA, Presbyterian

No	38
Date of Notice	25 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stanley Williams Weeks	Ivy Jane Armstrong
	💍 1923/9488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	domestic duties
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	8 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lowcliffe
Folio	4828
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert McCully BA, Presbyterian

1 June 1923

James Herbert Moore
Glasyp May Young

James Herbert Moore
Gladys May Young
💍 1923/9489

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
domestic duties

29
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

12 days
10 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

4829

William Young, father of minor

1 June 1923

Rev J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	1 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Moore	Glasyp May Young
BDM Match (94%)	James Herbert Moore	Gladys May Young
	💍 1923/9489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	domestic duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	4829
Consent	William Young, father of minor
Date of Certificate	1 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

11 June 1923

George Edgar Bixby
Martha Louisa Brown

George Edgar Bielby
Martha Louisa Brown
💍 1923/9490

George Edward Butt
Ellen Louisa Brown
💍 1923/5293

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Saleswoman

30
28

Ashburton
Ashburton

not stated
16 years

Methodist Church, Ashburton

4830

11 June 1923

Rev R. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	40
Date of Notice	11 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edgar Bixby	Martha Louisa Brown
BDM Match (95%)	George Edgar Bielby	Martha Louisa Brown
	💍 1923/9490
BDM Match (68%)	George Edward Butt	Ellen Louisa Brown
	💍 1923/5293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Saleswoman
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	not stated	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ashburton
Folio	4830
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev R. J. Liddell, 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).