Intentions to Marry, 1920 Albertland to Awhitu

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840488, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 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.

1920a contains pages 1-470, covering districts from Albertland to Awhitu

Page 032

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. V. Evans

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

116

22 January 1920

Frank Horatio Willis Chance Raymond Hinchman
Beryl Greta Hill

Frank Horatio Willis Chauve Raymond
Beryl Meta Hill
💍 1920/3714

Bachelor
Spinster

21
21

Auckland
Auckland

5 weeks
5 weeks

St George's Church Kingsland

2160

22 January 1920

M. Johnson

No	116
Date of Notice	22 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Horatio Willis Chance Raymond Hinchman	Beryl Greta Hill
BDM Match (81%)	Frank Horatio Willis Chauve Raymond	Beryl Meta Hill
	💍 1920/3714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St George's Church Kingsland
Folio	2160
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1920
Officiating Minister	M. Johnson

117

22 January 1920

Ernest Cecil Johnston
Ethel May Hardy

Ernest Cecil Johnston
Ethel May Hanby
💍 1920/3715

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
20 years

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Khyber Pass, Auckland

2161

22 January 1920

J. E. A. Calder

No	117
Date of Notice	22 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Cecil Johnston	Ethel May Hardy
BDM Match (93%)	Ernest Cecil Johnston	Ethel May Hanby
	💍 1920/3715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Khyber Pass, Auckland
Folio	2161
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1920
Officiating Minister	J. E. A. Calder

118

22 January 1920

John William Hunt
Mabel Judith Clough

John William Hunt
Mabel Judith Clough
💍 1920/3716

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

44
30

Auckland
Auckland

5 weeks
4 days

St Thomas Church Auckland

2162

22 January 1920

E. H. Wyatt

No	118
Date of Notice	22 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Hunt	Mabel Judith Clough
	💍 1920/3716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	44	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	St Thomas Church Auckland
Folio	2162
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1920
Officiating Minister	E. H. Wyatt

119

22 January 1920

Thomas Chambers Davis
Alma Brewster

Thomas Chambers Davis
Alma Brewster
💍 1920/3717

Divorced Decree Absolute 20 Dec 1918
Widow 16 July 1916

Accountant

49
32

Cambridge
Auckland

3 months
13 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

2163

22 January 1920

Registrar

No	119
Date of Notice	22 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Chambers Davis	Alma Brewster
	💍 1920/3717
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 20 Dec 1918	Widow 16 July 1916
Profession	Accountant
Age	49	32
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	2163
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

120

23 January 1920

Philip Ernest Reddaway
Hannah Violet Symes

Philip Ernest Reddaway
Hannah Violet Symes
💍 1920/4974

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
18

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
9 months

Residence of Bridegroom's mother 37 Karangahape Road Auckland

2375

Hannah Lacey, formerly Symes, Mother

23 January 1920

F. Warner (Note: Will not be solemnised by Rev Warner see Notice No. 230 1920)

No	120
Date of Notice	23 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Ernest Reddaway	Hannah Violet Symes
	💍 1920/4974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom's mother 37 Karangahape Road Auckland
Folio	2375
Consent	Hannah Lacey, formerly Symes, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 January 1920
Officiating Minister	F. Warner (Note: Will not be solemnised by Rev Warner see Notice No. 230 1920)

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).