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 081

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. H. Culthorpe

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

361

2 March 1920

Charles Edward May
Florence Emily Purcell

Charles Edward May
Florence Emily Purcell
💍 1920/3630

Bachelor
Widow 12/10/14

Farmer

33
30

Auckland
Auckland

8 months
3 years

St Johns Church Ponsonby Auckland

2398

2 March 1920

H. E. Bellhouse

No	361
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward May	Florence Emily Purcell
	💍 1920/3630
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 12/10/14
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Ponsonby Auckland
Folio	2398
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	H. E. Bellhouse

362

2 March 1920

John McFarlane Harris
Flora Lucy Liddiard

John McFarlane Harre
Flora Lucy Liddiard
💍 1920/3631

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower

22
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church Mt Eden Auckland

2399

Henry John Liddiard Father

2 March 1920

J. W. Shaw

No	362
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McFarlane Harris	Flora Lucy Liddiard
BDM Match (95%)	John McFarlane Harre	Flora Lucy Liddiard
	💍 1920/3631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Mt Eden Auckland
Folio	2399
Consent	Henry John Liddiard Father
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	J. W. Shaw

363

2 March 1920

Norman Creighton Abernethy
Rebecca Winifred Conyngham

Norman Creighton Abernethy
Rebecca Winifred Conyngham
💍 1920/3632

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

24
25

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
10 years

Registrars Office Auckland

2400

2 March 1920

Registrar

No	363
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Creighton Abernethy	Rebecca Winifred Conyngham
	💍 1920/3632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Auckland
Folio	2400
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

364

2 March 1920

Thomas Frank Lester
Margaret Helen Gedye

Thomas Frank Tester
Margaret Helen Gedye
💍 1920/12278

Widower 9 March 1918
Divorced decree absolute 14 February 1920

City Council Inspector

53
36

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
12 months

Registrars Office Auckland

2401

2 March 1920

Registrar

No	364
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Frank Lester	Margaret Helen Gedye
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Frank Tester	Margaret Helen Gedye
	💍 1920/12278
Condition	Widower 9 March 1918	Divorced decree absolute 14 February 1920
Profession	City Council Inspector
Age	53	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Auckland
Folio	2401
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

365

2 March 1920

Reginald Morley Paynton Speck
Ruth Adelaide Foster

Reginald Morley Poynton Spick
Rae Adelaide Foster
💍 1920/3665

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
15 years

Church of the Holy Trinity Devonport

2402

2 March 1920

A. J. Greenwood

No	365
Date of Notice	2 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Morley Paynton Speck	Ruth Adelaide Foster
BDM Match (89%)	Reginald Morley Poynton Spick	Rae Adelaide Foster
	💍 1920/3665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Trinity Devonport
Folio	2402
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1920
Officiating Minister	A. J. Greenwood

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).