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 3373

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar H. J. Petre

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

24 March 1923

Walter Ingleheart Aicken
Gladys Muriel Jenkins

Walter Ingleheart Aitken
Gladys Muriel Jenkins
💍 1923/2835

Bachelor
Spinster

Yeman
Clerk

35
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

11 years
6 years

English Church, Lay Street, Invercargill

2533

24 March 1923

J. A. Lush, Church of England

No	56
Date of Notice	24 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Ingleheart Aicken	Gladys Muriel Jenkins
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Ingleheart Aitken	Gladys Muriel Jenkins
	💍 1923/2835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Yeman	Clerk
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	6 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Lay Street, Invercargill
Folio	2533
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. A. Lush, Church of England

28 March 1923

Andrew Diack
Annie Collins Docherty

Andrew Diack
Annie Collins Docherty
💍 1923/2836

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Invercargill
Longbush

2 weeks
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Waikivi

2534

28 March 1923

W. J. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	28 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Diack	Annie Collins Docherty
	💍 1923/2836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Longbush
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waikivi
Folio	2534
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1923
Officiating Minister	W. J. Robertson, Presbyterian

28 March 1923

David Goble
Dora Lilian Hutchins

David Goble
Dora Lilian Hutchins
💍 1923/2813

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
20

Benmore
Invercargill

25 years
20 years

Bride's Parents Residence, 5 Biggar Street, Invercargill

2535

Frank Hutchins, Father

28 March 1923

J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	28 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Goble	Dora Lilian Hutchins
	💍 1923/2813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Benmore	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Bride's Parents Residence, 5 Biggar Street, Invercargill
Folio	2535
Consent	Frank Hutchins, Father
Date of Certificate	28 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Chisholm, Presbyterian

29 March 1923

Daniel Patrick Murphy
Sarah Winifred Collins

Daniel Patrick Murphy
Sarah Winefred Collins
💍 1923/2814

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Photographer

31
26

Dunedin
Invercargill

31 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church, Lyne Street, Invercargill

2536

29 March 1923

C. J. Collins, Roman Catholic

No	59
Date of Notice	29 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Patrick Murphy	Sarah Winifred Collins
BDM Match (98%)	Daniel Patrick Murphy	Sarah Winefred Collins
	💍 1923/2814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Photographer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Invercargill
Length of Residence	31 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	2536
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1923
Officiating Minister	C. J. Collins, Roman Catholic

29 March 1923

Alfred John Silvester
Robina Anderson

Alfred John Silvester
Robina Anderson
💍 1923/2815

Widower
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

45
36

Bluff
Invercargill

45 years
36 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

2537

29 March 1923

Registrar

No	60
Date of Notice	29 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Silvester	Robina Anderson
	💍 1923/2815
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	45	36
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Invercargill
Length of Residence	45 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	2537
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).