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 1499

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

182

1 October 1920

Stanley Phillip Banty
Winifred Hilda McGill

Stanley Phillip Canty
Winifred Hilda McGill
💍 1920/11917

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Waitress

29
28

Napier
Napier

5 days
5 days

Registrar's Office Napier

11194

1 October 1920

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	182
Date of Notice	1 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Phillip Banty	Winifred Hilda McGill
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Phillip Canty	Winifred Hilda McGill
	💍 1920/11917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Waitress
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	11194
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1920
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

183

1 October 1920

Louis Robert Gibb
Ethel Shepherd

Louis Robert Gibb
Ethel Shepherd
💍 1920/11918

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
34

Clive
Clive

3 days
2 years

St. Marks Church Clive

11195

1 October 1920

R. T. Geddes Church of England

No	183
Date of Notice	1 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Robert Gibb	Ethel Shepherd
	💍 1920/11918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church Clive
Folio	11195
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1920
Officiating Minister	R. T. Geddes Church of England

184

2 October 1920

Cyril Coombes Austin Bartlett
Ada Maud Carver

Cyril Coombes Austin Bartlett
Ada Maud Carver
💍 1920/11947

Divorced 25 August 1920
Spinster

Soldier
Nursing sister

33
34

Waipukurau
Napier

2 1/2 months
4 days

Registrar's Office Waipukurau

11249

2 October 1920

Registrar of Marriages Waipukurau

No	184
Date of Notice	2 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Coombes Austin Bartlett	Ada Maud Carver
	💍 1920/11947
Condition	Divorced 25 August 1920	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Nursing sister
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Napier
Length of Residence	2 1/2 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Waipukurau
Folio	11249
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Waipukurau

185

2 October 1920

George Leonard Clark
Aileen Alice Phair

George Leonard Clark
Aileen Alice Phair
💍 1920/11919

Bachelor
Widow 28 June 1920

Porter
Domestic Duties

26
23

Napier
Napier

3 days
10 days

Residence of Rev. A. Hodge Napier

11196

2 October 1920

A. Hodge Congregational

No	185
Date of Notice	2 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Leonard Clark	Aileen Alice Phair
	💍 1920/11919
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 28 June 1920
Profession	Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. A. Hodge Napier
Folio	11196
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1920
Officiating Minister	A. Hodge Congregational

186

2 October 1920

Cecil Knowlden Burr
Gwendoline Phyllis May Wills

Cecil Knowlden Burr
Gwendoline Phyllis May Wills
💍 1920/11921

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

28
22

Napier
Napier

8 years
9 years

St. Augustine's Church Napier

11197

2 October 1920

Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

No	186
Date of Notice	2 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Knowlden Burr	Gwendoline Phyllis May Wills
	💍 1920/11921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	11197
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice 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).