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 2276

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar W. M. Eggleston

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

5 March 1923

Charles James Colville
Gladys Maud Hurley

Charles James Colville
Gladys Maud Hurley
💍 1923/2563

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

26
24

Nelson (from Wellington)
Nelson

1 day
24 years

St John's Methodist Church, Nelson

23/2209

5 March 1923

Rev. J. R. Helson, Methodist Church

No	16
Date of Notice	5 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Colville	Gladys Maud Hurley
	💍 1923/2563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson (from Wellington)	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	24 years
Marriage Place	St John's Methodist Church, Nelson
Folio	23/2209
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Helson, Methodist Church

8 March 1923

Albert George Johnson
Louisa Murray Betts

Albert George Johnson
Louisa Murray Betts
💍 1923/2540

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic Duties

25
23

Nelson (from Wellington)
52 Milton Street, Nelson

5 days
1 month

Presbyterian Church, Nelson

23/2210

8 March 1923

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

No	17
Date of Notice	8 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Johnson	Louisa Murray Betts
	💍 1923/2540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson (from Wellington)	52 Milton Street, Nelson
Length of Residence	5 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nelson
Folio	23/2210
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian Church

9 March 1923

Charles Hurley
Emma Cooke

Charles Hurley
Emma Cooke
💍 1923/2541

Widower (17-9-1920)
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Duties

54
57

Nelson
Nelson (from Wellington)

45 years
1 day

Registrar's Office at Nelson

23/2211

9 March 1923

Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

No	18
Date of Notice	9 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hurley	Emma Cooke
	💍 1923/2541
Condition	Widower (17-9-1920)	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	54	57
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson (from Wellington)
Length of Residence	45 years	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Nelson
Folio	23/2211
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Nelson

12 March 1923

Hayden Halford Miller
Mary Bell

Hayden Halford Miller
Mary Bell
💍 1923/2542

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic Duties

35
36

Nelson
Nelson

35 years
36 years

Church of Christ, Nelson

23/2212

12 March 1923

Mr W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

No	19
Date of Notice	12 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hayden Halford Miller	Mary Bell
	💍 1923/2542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	35 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Nelson
Folio	23/2212
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Mr W. G. Carpenter, Church of Christ

14 March 1923

Oliver Field Burford
Joan Mascotte Sweet

Oliver Field Burford
Joan Mascotte Sweet
💍 1923/2543

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman and Commercial Traveller
Domestic Duties

46
25

Nelson
Nelson

45 years
9 months

All Saints' Church, Nelson

23/2213

14 March 1923

Rev. F. Pring Rowe, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	14 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Field Burford	Joan Mascotte Sweet
	💍 1923/2543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman and Commercial Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	46	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	45 years	9 months
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Nelson
Folio	23/2213
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Pring Rowe, Church of England

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).