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 3404

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar J. McFarlane

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

193

23 October 1923

James Ballantine
Violet Selina King

James Ballantine
Violet Selina King
💍 1923/7575

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

40
20

Wacetown
Wacetown

3 years
20 years

Residence of Mrs. King, Wacetown

9856

Henry Stephen King (father)

23 October 1923

Rev. W. W. French (Presbyterian)

No	193
Date of Notice	23 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ballantine	Violet Selina King
	💍 1923/7575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	20
Dwelling Place	Wacetown	Wacetown
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. King, Wacetown
Folio	9856
Consent	Henry Stephen King (father)
Date of Certificate	23 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. French (Presbyterian)

194

26 October 1923

John Harold Roderique
Winnifred Ellice Wade

John Harold Roderique
Winnifred Ellice Wade
💍 1923/7576

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

33
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
22 years

St. John's Church, Invercargill

9857

26 October 1923

Rev. J. A. Lush (Anglican)

No	194
Date of Notice	26 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harold Roderique	Winnifred Ellice Wade
	💍 1923/7576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Invercargill
Folio	9857
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lush (Anglican)

195

29 October 1923

Charles Bentley Steples
Hazel May Phiepot

Charles Bentley Styles
Hazel May Philpott
💍 1923/7577

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

2 days
28 years

Residence of Mr. Sha. Phiepot, Tramway Road, Invercargill

9858

29 October 1923

Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon (Presbyterian)

No	195
Date of Notice	29 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bentley Steples	Hazel May Phiepot
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Bentley Styles	Hazel May Philpott
	💍 1923/7577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Sha. Phiepot, Tramway Road, Invercargill
Folio	9858
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Wedderspoon (Presbyterian)

196

29 October 1923

George Munro
Jessie Woodrow Raeside

George Munro
Jessie Woodrow Raeside
💍 1923/7578

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

28
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

28 years
29 years

Residence of Mrs. G. Boyce, 8 Roy Street, Invercargill

9859

29 October 1923

Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

No	196
Date of Notice	29 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Munro	Jessie Woodrow Raeside
	💍 1923/7578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. G. Boyce, 8 Roy Street, Invercargill
Folio	9859
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Gilbert (Presbyterian)

197

29 October 1923

John Francis Hutchinson
Violet Elizabeth Perry

John Francis Hutchinson
Violet Elizabeth Perry
💍 1923/7555

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

24
24

Christchurch
Invercargill

11 years
11 years

St. John's Church, Invercargill

9860

29 October 1923

Rev. J. A. Lush (Anglican)

No	197
Date of Notice	29 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Hutchinson	Violet Elizabeth Perry
	💍 1923/7555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Invercargill
Folio	9860
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lush (Anglican)

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).