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 3393

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar Moffett

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

145

6 August 1923

William Albert Edwards
Florence Mavis Bates

William Albert Edwards
Florence Mavis Bates
💍 1923/5748

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman

25
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 day
7 days

St. Paul's Church, Invercargill

7357

6 August 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	145
Date of Notice	6 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Edwards	Florence Mavis Bates
	💍 1923/5748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 day	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Invercargill
Folio	7357
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

146

7 August 1923

Charles Daniel Robertson
Isabella Christina Ronald

Charles Daniel Robertson
Isabella Christina Ronald
💍 1923/5749

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

33
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
19 years

St. Paul's Church, Invercargill

7358

7 August 1923

Rev. J. Collie, Presbyterian

No	146
Date of Notice	7 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Daniel Robertson	Isabella Christina Ronald
	💍 1923/5749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Invercargill
Folio	7358
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Collie, Presbyterian

147

7 August 1923

John Watson
Gladys Elizabeth Taylor

John Watson
Gladys Elizabeth Taylor
💍 1923/5726

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

29
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 years
26 years

First Church, Invercargill

7359

7 August 1923

Rev. J. Robinson, Presbyterian

No	147
Date of Notice	7 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Watson	Gladys Elizabeth Taylor
	💍 1923/5726
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Invercargill
Folio	7359
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Robinson, Presbyterian

148

9 August 1923

Henry James Donnelly
Margaret Jones

Henry James Donnelly
Margaret Jones
💍 1923/5727

Bachelor
Widow (27 Dec 1915)

Clerk

38
43

Invercargill
Invercargill

38 years
11 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

7360

9 August 1923

Rev. Wm. Burke, Roman Catholic

No	148
Date of Notice	9 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Donnelly	Margaret Jones
	💍 1923/5727
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (27 Dec 1915)
Profession	Clerk
Age	38	43
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	38 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	7360
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Burke, Roman Catholic

149

10 August 1923

Cyril Neville Fairweather
Dorothy Hastings

Cyril Neville Fairweather
Dorothy Hastings
💍 1923/5728

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

16
17

Invercargill
Invercargill

16 years
17 years

Residence of Mr. Hastings, 12 Sydney Street, Invercargill

7361

David James Fairweather (Father of groom), John Hastings (Father of bride)

10 August 1923

Rev. L. A. Day, Baptist

No	149
Date of Notice	10 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Neville Fairweather	Dorothy Hastings
	💍 1923/5728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	16	17
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hastings, 12 Sydney Street, Invercargill
Folio	7361
Consent	David James Fairweather (Father of groom), John Hastings (Father of bride)
Date of Certificate	10 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. A. Day, Baptist

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).