Intentions to Marry, 1920 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840491, 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.

1920d contains pages 1399-1884, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1461

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

8 January 1920

Robert Ernest Bishop
Doris Kathleen Bropp

Robert Ernest Bishop
Doris Kathleen Cropp
💍 1920/2103

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
26

Napier
Napier

22 years
8 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

1386

8 January 1920

Rev. Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	8 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ernest Bishop	Doris Kathleen Bropp
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Ernest Bishop	Doris Kathleen Cropp
	💍 1920/2103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	22 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	1386
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

9 January 1920

William Henry Prince
Kate Harrison

William Henry Prince
Kate Harrison
💍 1920/2104

William Henry Le Geyt
Ethel May Harrison
💍 1920/12009

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Duties

26
21

Napier
Port Ahuriri

25 years
14 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

1387

9 January 1920

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	9 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Prince	Kate Harrison
	💍 1920/2104
BDM Match (61%)	William Henry Le Geyt	Ethel May Harrison
	💍 1920/12009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	25 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	1387
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

12 January 1920

Robert Corbet Ellis
Effie Gardiner

Robert Corbet Ellis
Effie Gardiner
💍 1920/2105

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

20
19

Napier
Puketapu

3 years
12 years

Methodist Church, Napier

1388

Walter Corbet Ellis, Father; Elizabeth Gardiner, Grandmother

12 January 1920

Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Corbet Ellis	Effie Gardiner
	💍 1920/2105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Puketapu
Length of Residence	3 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	1388
Consent	Walter Corbet Ellis, Father; Elizabeth Gardiner, Grandmother
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

12 January 1920

Vernon Bernard Arnold
Evelyn Victoria Cammock

Vernon Bernard Arnold
Evelyn Victoria Cammock
💍 1920/2106

Widower 18th April 1917
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic Duties

28
27

Napier
Napier

2 years
9 months

Roman Catholic Church, Napier

1389

12 January 1920

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Bernard Arnold	Evelyn Victoria Cammock
	💍 1920/2106
Condition	Widower 18th April 1917	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Napier
Folio	1389
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

13 January 1920

Frederick Bruce Lloyd
Marjorie Alice Gamby

Frederick Bruce Lloyd
Marjorie Alice Gamby
💍 1920/2107

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Domestic Duties

24
24

Napier
Napier

4 days
23 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

1390

13 January 1920

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	13 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Bruce Lloyd	Marjorie Alice Gamby
	💍 1920/2107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	1390
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

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).