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 1844

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar A. Shorth

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

23 April 1920

Clarence George Bland Vining
Laura Eva Girling

Clarence George Bland Vining
Laura Eva Girling
💍 1920/1967

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic

23
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 month
4 months

Residence of Mr J. Vining, 62 Church Street, Palmerston North

5554

23 April 1920

Rev. A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	96
Date of Notice	23 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence George Bland Vining	Laura Eva Girling
	💍 1920/1967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 month	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Vining, 62 Church Street, Palmerston North
Folio	5554
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Ashcroft, Methodist

27 April 1920

Alfred Wright Adcock
Audrey Gwendoline Smith

Alfred Wright Adcock
Audrey Gwendoline Smith
💍 1920/1968

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic

35
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
26 years

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

5555

27 April 1920

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	97
Date of Notice	27 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Wright Adcock	Audrey Gwendoline Smith
	💍 1920/1968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	5555
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

27 April 1920

David Blake
Nellie Lloyd

David Blake
Nellie Lloyd
💍 1920/1969

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

41
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

38 years
13 months

St Peters Church of England, Palmerston North

5556

27 April 1920

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	98
Date of Notice	27 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Blake	Nellie Lloyd
	💍 1920/1969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	41	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	38 years	13 months
Marriage Place	St Peters Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	5556
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

27 April 1920

Charles Entwisle
Ida Jemima Allerby

Charles Entwisle
Ida Jemima Allerby
💍 1920/1970

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

5557

27 April 1920

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	99
Date of Notice	27 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Entwisle	Ida Jemima Allerby
	💍 1920/1970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	5557
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

100

28 April 1920

Charles Herbert Lawrence
Gwladys Gifford Moore

Charles Herbert Lawrence
Gwladys Gifford Moore
💍 1920/1947

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager
Domestic

36
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
23 years

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

5558

28 April 1920

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	100
Date of Notice	28 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Lawrence	Gwladys Gifford Moore
	💍 1920/1947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager	Domestic
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	5558
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

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).