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 3403

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar J. R. Colwood

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

188

12 October 1923

James Howden
Doris Margaret Grindlay

James Howden
Doris Margaret Grindlay
💍 1923/7565

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage painter

23
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 years
25 years

First Church, Invercargill

9851

12 October 1923

Rev. J. H. Robinson (Presbyterian)

No	188
Date of Notice	12 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Howden	Doris Margaret Grindlay
	💍 1923/7565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage painter
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Invercargill
Folio	9851
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Robinson (Presbyterian)

189

12 October 1923

Colin Diack
Charlotte Anne Wilkinson

Colin Diack
Charlotte Anne Wilkinson
💍 1923/7572

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
24

Kennington
Invercargill

7 years
10 years

St. Paul's Church, Invercargill

9852

12 October 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	189
Date of Notice	12 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Diack	Charlotte Anne Wilkinson
	💍 1923/7572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Kennington	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Invercargill
Folio	9852
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

190

16 October 1923

Walter John Reynolds
Mary Christina Milne

Walter John Reynolds
Mary Christina Milne
💍 1923/7573

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

23
24

Invercargill
Gore

3 days
20 years

St. Paul's Manse, Earnslaw Street, Invercargill

9853

16 October 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	190
Date of Notice	16 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Reynolds	Mary Christina Milne
	💍 1923/7573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Manse, Earnslaw Street, Invercargill
Folio	9853
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

191

17 October 1923

William Miller
Louisa Mary Browne

William Miller
Louisa May Browne
💍 1923/7574

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
31

Dacre
Invercargill

3 years
3 years

St. Paul's Church, Invercargill

9854

17 October 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	191
Date of Notice	17 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Miller	Louisa Mary Browne
BDM Match (97%)	William Miller	Louisa May Browne
	💍 1923/7574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Dacre	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Invercargill
Folio	9854
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

192

23 October 1923

George Beange
Mary Ann Robson

George Beanje
Mary Ann Robson
💍 1923/7571

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
32

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
7 days

St. Paul's Church, Invercargill

9855

23 October 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	192
Date of Notice	23 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Beange	Mary Ann Robson
BDM Match (96%)	George Beanje	Mary Ann Robson
	💍 1923/7571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Invercargill
Folio	9855
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

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).