Intentions to Marry, 1923 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840519, 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.

1923e contains pages 3085-3502, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3219

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar H. Kent

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

10 December 1923

Arthur Charles Neville McIntyre
Sarah Holness Blair

Arthur Charles Neville McIntyre
Sarah Holness Blair
💍 1923/5462

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman
Domestic Duties

46
41

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Oamaru

9806

10 December 1923

Registrar of Marriages

No	89
Date of Notice	10 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Charles Neville McIntyre	Sarah Holness Blair
	💍 1923/5462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman	Domestic Duties
Age	46	41
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Oamaru
Folio	9806
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

10 December 1923

William McNeill
Rachel McNeill

William McNeill
Rachel McNeill
💍 1924/7900

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
23

Maheno
Maheno

3 days
3 days

St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

133

20 December 1923

Rev. G. Hunt, Presbyterian

No	90
Date of Notice	10 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McNeill	Rachel McNeill
	💍 1924/7900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Maheno	Maheno
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	133
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Hunt, Presbyterian

17 December 1923

Walter Craig
Myrtle Lavinia Bartley

Walter Craig
Myrtle Lavina Bartley
💍 1923/5463

Bachelor
Spinster

Shunter
Waitress

29
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

15 months
21 years

Registrar's Office, Court House, Oamaru

9807

17 December 1923

Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

No	91
Date of Notice	17 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Craig	Myrtle Lavinia Bartley
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Craig	Myrtle Lavina Bartley
	💍 1923/5463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shunter	Waitress
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	15 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Court House, Oamaru
Folio	9807
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru

20 December 1923

William John Tiddy
Annie Elizabeth Telfer

William John Tiddy
Annie Elizabeth Telfer
💍 1923/5464

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

6 months
21 years

Residence of Mr. J. Cornick, Exe Street, Oamaru

9808

20 December 1923

Rev. G. T. Stockwell, Rev. W. McLean, Methodist, Presbyterian

No	92
Date of Notice	20 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Tiddy	Annie Elizabeth Telfer
	💍 1923/5464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	6 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Cornick, Exe Street, Oamaru
Folio	9808
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Stockwell, Rev. W. McLean, Methodist, Presbyterian

20 December 1923

Robert Ernest Richardson
Harriet Sinclair

Robert Ernest Richardson
Harriet Sinclair
💍 1924/7798

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Dressmaker

29
29

Dunedin
Oamaru

29 years
29 years

Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru

134

20 December 1923

Rev. G. T. Stockwell, Methodist

No	93
Date of Notice	20 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ernest Richardson	Harriet Sinclair
	💍 1924/7798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Dressmaker
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Oamaru
Length of Residence	29 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Eden Street, Oamaru
Folio	134
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Stockwell, 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).