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 1446

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar R. Brathwaite

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

118

21 August 1920

Herbert Eric Phillips
Doris Violet Romeril

Herbert Eric Phillips
Doris Violet Romeril
💍 1920/12337

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect
Home duties

23
22

Havelock North
Havelock North

23 years
10 days

St. Lukes Church, Havelock North

8287

21 August 1920

Rev. J. A. Lush

No	118
Date of Notice	21 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Eric Phillips	Doris Violet Romeril
	💍 1920/12337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Home duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	23 years	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Havelock North
Folio	8287
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lush

119

21 August 1920

Stanley Sherman Wright
Alice Augusta Death

Stanley Sherman Wright
Alice Augusta Deathe
💍 1920/8446

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator
Typiste

28
21

Hastings
Hastings

23 years
10 days

St. Lukes Church, Havelock North

8288

21 August 1920

Rev. J. A. Lush

No	119
Date of Notice	21 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Sherman Wright	Alice Augusta Death
BDM Match (98%)	Stanley Sherman Wright	Alice Augusta Deathe
	💍 1920/8446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator	Typiste
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	23 years	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Havelock North
Folio	8288
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lush

120

23 August 1920

William John Ausland Crerar
Julia Josephine Burden

William John McAusland Crerar
Julia Josephine Burden
💍 1920/8447

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser & Tobacconist
Domestic duties

30
24

Hastings
Hastings

15 years
18 years

Residence of Mr. T. L. Burden, Karamu Road, Hastings

8289

23 August 1920

Rev. A. C. Bean

No	120
Date of Notice	23 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Ausland Crerar	Julia Josephine Burden
BDM Match (97%)	William John McAusland Crerar	Julia Josephine Burden
	💍 1920/8447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser & Tobacconist	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. L. Burden, Karamu Road, Hastings
Folio	8289
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Bean

121

26 August 1920

Henry Gascoyne
Elsie Ann Mary Maclean

Henry Gascoyne
Elsie Ann Mary Maclean
💍 1920/8448

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Household duties

43
26

Maraekakaho
Glencoe H. Bay

25 years
12 years

Maraekakaho Church

8290

26 August 1920

Rev. J. H. Bredin

No	121
Date of Notice	26 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gascoyne	Elsie Ann Mary Maclean
	💍 1920/8448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Household duties
Age	43	26
Dwelling Place	Maraekakaho	Glencoe H. Bay
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Maraekakaho Church
Folio	8290
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Bredin

122

28 August 1920

John William Talbot
Muriel Halstead

John William Talbot
Muriel Halstead
💍 1920/8449

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
26

Hastings
Hastings

13 years
24 years

Baptist Church, Hastings

8291

28 August 1920

Rev. E. G. Edridge

No	122
Date of Notice	28 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Talbot	Muriel Halstead
	💍 1920/8449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	13 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hastings
Folio	8291
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Edridge

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).