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 2282

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar W. M. Egglestone

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

2 June 1923

Robert James Howat
Mabel Hilda Doris Gill

Robert James Howat
Mabel Hilda Doris Gill
💍 1923/9227

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

20
19

Nelson
Nelson

9 years
19 years

At ministers Private Residence, 117 Waimea St., Nelson

23/4765

John Howat, father; Mary A. A. Gill, mother

2 June 1923

Mr. John Griffith, Church of Christ

No	45
Date of Notice	2 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Howat	Mabel Hilda Doris Gill
	💍 1923/9227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	9 years	19 years
Marriage Place	At ministers Private Residence, 117 Waimea St., Nelson
Folio	23/4765
Consent	John Howat, father; Mary A. A. Gill, mother
Date of Certificate	2 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Mr. John Griffith, Church of Christ

5 June 1923

Henry Hayman Coote
Ida Rose Wells

Henry Hayman Coote
Ida Rose Wells
💍 1923/9228

Bachelor
Spinster

Optician
Domestic

45
24

Nelson (from Wellington)
Nelson

2 days
21 days

Methodist Church, Nelson

23/4766

5 June 1923

Rev. Hames, Methodist

No	46
Date of Notice	5 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hayman Coote	Ida Rose Wells
	💍 1923/9228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Optician	Domestic
Age	45	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson (from Wellington)	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 days	21 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	23/4766
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hames, Methodist

6 June 1923

Stanley Charles Pahl
Eva Fenemor

Stanley Charles Pahl
Eva Fenemor
💍 1923/9229

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

22
20

Nelson
Nelson

22 years
20 years

Office of Registrar of marriages, Nelson

23/4767

Mary Jane Fenemor, mother

6 June 1923

W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	6 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Charles Pahl	Eva Fenemor
	💍 1923/9229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of marriages, Nelson
Folio	23/4767
Consent	Mary Jane Fenemor, mother
Date of Certificate	6 June 1923
Officiating Minister	W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

8 June 1923

Douglas Arthur Eyles
Margaret Myra Westrupp

Douglas Arthur Eyles
Margaret Myra Westrupp
💍 1923/9230

Bachelor
Spinster

Mental Attendant
Domestic duties

27
21

Nelson
Nelson

20 years
20 years

Office of Registrar of marriages, Nelson

23/4768

8 June 1923

W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	8 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Arthur Eyles	Margaret Myra Westrupp
	💍 1923/9230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mental Attendant	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of marriages, Nelson
Folio	23/4768
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1923
Officiating Minister	W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

11 June 1923

Colin Robert Crichton
Winfed Evelyn Westley

Colin Robert Crichton
Winfed Evelyn Westley
💍 1923/9231

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
22

Brightwater
Nelson

2 months
22 years

Office of Registrar of marriages, Nelson

23/4769

11 June 1923

W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

No	49
Date of Notice	11 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Robert Crichton	Winfed Evelyn Westley
	💍 1923/9231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Brightwater	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of marriages, Nelson
Folio	23/4769
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1923
Officiating Minister	W. M. Egglestone, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).