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 1470

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

4 March 1920

Herbert Garnet Luke
Minnie Dalton

Herbert Garnet Luke
Minnie Dalton
💍 1920/4728

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine engineer
Domestic Duties

34
20

Napier
Napier

7 months
20 years

St. Augustine's Church Napier

1428

Henry Ruffell Dalton, Father

4 March 1920

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	56
Date of Notice	4 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Garnet Luke	Minnie Dalton
	💍 1920/4728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	1428
Consent	Henry Ruffell Dalton, Father
Date of Certificate	4 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

4 March 1920

Thomas Ratcliffe Rothwell
Mary Kathleen Anderson

Thomas Ratcliffe Rothwell
Mary Kathleen Anderson
💍 1920/4729

Bachelor
Spinster

Travelling Manager
Domestic Duties

31
27

Clive
Clive

2 months
3 months

Presbyterian Church Clive

1429

4 March 1920

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	4 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ratcliffe Rothwell	Mary Kathleen Anderson
	💍 1920/4729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Travelling Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	2 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Clive
Folio	1429
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

10 March 1920

Edgar Liddle
Elizabeth Ann Willis

Edgar Liddle
Elizabeth Ann Willis
💍 1920/4730

Widower 27th December 1905
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

53
42

Taradale
Taradale

5 days
33 years

Methodist Church Greenmeadows

1430

10 March 1920

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	58
Date of Notice	10 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Liddle	Elizabeth Ann Willis
	💍 1920/4730
Condition	Widower 27th December 1905	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	53	42
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	5 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Greenmeadows
Folio	1430
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

12 March 1920

Frederick Stewart Wallace
Olive Rose Watts

Frederick Stewart Wallace
Olive Rose Wells
💍 1920/4731

Bachelor
Spinster

Stud Groom
Domestic Duties

24
23

Taradale
Taradale

6 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church Taradale

1431

12 March 1920

Rev. A. H. Norrie, Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Stewart Wallace	Olive Rose Watts
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick Stewart Wallace	Olive Rose Wells
	💍 1920/4731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stud Groom	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	6 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Taradale
Folio	1431
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Norrie, Presbyterian

12 March 1920

Frederic Belton Pilcher
Dora Moore

Frederick Belton Pilcher
Dora Moore
💍 1920/4732

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
33

Napier
Napier

6 years
1 year

St. John's Cathedral Napier

1432

12 March 1920

Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Belton Pilcher	Dora Moore
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Belton Pilcher	Dora Moore
	💍 1920/4732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	1432
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, 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).