Intentions to Marry, 1920 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840490, 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.

1920c contains pages 939-1398, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1071

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

1 November 1920

William Richard Bainbridge Mitchell
Beatrice Eliza Stillman

William Richard Bainbridge Mitchell
Beatrice Eliza Stillman
💍 1920/11616

Bachelor
Spinster

Bee keeper
Domestic

25
27

Puriri
Thames

25 years
9 days

St Georges Church, Thames

10978

1 November 1920

Rev. A. J. Beck

No	53
Date of Notice	1 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Bainbridge Mitchell	Beatrice Eliza Stillman
	💍 1920/11616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bee keeper	Domestic
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	9 days
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	10978
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck

6 November 1920

Ernest Shepherd Moorman
Annie Emmeline Platt Lloyd

Ernest Shepherd Moorman
Annie Emmeline Platt Lloyd
💍 1920/11617

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Household Duties

29
23

Thames
Thames

5 days
6 weeks

St Georges Church, Thames

10979

6 November 1920

Rev. A. J. Beck

No	54
Date of Notice	6 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Shepherd Moorman	Annie Emmeline Platt Lloyd
	💍 1920/11617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Household Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	10979
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck

15 November 1920

Herbert Sydney Meissner
Dorothy Ellen Wheeler

Herbert Sydney Clinker
Dorothy Ellen Wheeler
💍 1920/11618

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgehand
Domestic

31
22

Thames
Thames

31 years
12 days

St Georges Church, Thames

10980

15 November 1920

Rev. A. J. Beck

No	55
Date of Notice	15 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Sydney Meissner	Dorothy Ellen Wheeler
BDM Match (89%)	Herbert Sydney Clinker	Dorothy Ellen Wheeler
	💍 1920/11618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgehand	Domestic
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	31 years	12 days
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	10980
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck

12 November 1920

William Lane
Elvera May Sykes

William Lane
Elvera May Sykes
💍 1920/11698

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
accountant

25
21

Hikutaia
Hikutaia

2 months
2 months

Dwelling of John Sykes at Hikutaia

10981

12 November 1920

Rev. W. McDonald

No	56
Date of Notice	12 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lane	Elvera May Sykes
	💍 1920/11698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	accountant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of John Sykes at Hikutaia
Folio	10981
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McDonald

23 November 1920

George James Parry
Marion Jane Phillips

George James Parry
Marion Jane Phillips
💍 1920/11709

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
29

Ngatea
Thames

5 years
29 years

St Francis Church, Thames

10982

23 November 1920

Rev. Brennan

No	57
Date of Notice	23 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Parry	Marion Jane Phillips
	💍 1920/11709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Church, Thames
Folio	10982
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Brennan

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).