Intentions to Marry, 1921 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840497, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921b contains pages 433-884, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 567

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar D. Ferguson

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

163

28 November 1921

George Pye
Florence Bragg

George Pye
Florence Cragg
💍 1921/10765

Divorced Decree absolute 31-1-08
Spinster

Miner

42
39

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 months
11 months

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

9537

28 November 1921

Registrar

No	163
Date of Notice	28 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pye	Florence Bragg
BDM Match (96%)	George Pye	Florence Cragg
	💍 1921/10765
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 31-1-08	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	42	39
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 months	11 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	9537
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

164

28 November 1921

Alfred James Richardson
Alma Ester Hayes

Alfred James Richardson
Alma Aster Hayes
💍 1921/10766

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
18

Waihi
Hamilton

5 months
12 years

House of G. H. Hayes, Massey Street, Frankton Junction

9538

George Henry Hayes, Father

28 November 1921

Rev. J. D. Harty, Anglican

No	164
Date of Notice	28 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Richardson	Alma Ester Hayes
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred James Richardson	Alma Aster Hayes
	💍 1921/10766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Hamilton
Length of Residence	5 months	12 years
Marriage Place	House of G. H. Hayes, Massey Street, Frankton Junction
Folio	9538
Consent	George Henry Hayes, Father
Date of Certificate	28 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Harty, Anglican

165

2 December 1921

Wentworth Broadley commonly known as Wentworth Shaw
Alice May McCormick

Wentworth Ushaw
Alice May McCormick
💍 1921/10767

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

40
26

Hamilton
Hamilton East

22 months
2 years

St Mary's Church, Hamilton East

9539

2 December 1921

Rev. M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

No	165
Date of Notice	2 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wentworth Broadley commonly known as Wentworth Shaw	Alice May McCormick
BDM Match (64%)	Wentworth Ushaw	Alice May McCormick
	💍 1921/10767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton East
Length of Residence	22 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Hamilton East
Folio	9539
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

166

3 December 1921

George Piri Wattney
Annie Smallman

George Pipi Wattney
Annie Smallman
💍 1921/10768

Widower 9:7:1919
Spinster

Railway Employee

30
21

Hamilton
Te Aroha

3 months
20 years

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

9540

3 December 1921

Registrar

No	166
Date of Notice	3 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Piri Wattney	Annie Smallman
BDM Match (97%)	George Pipi Wattney	Annie Smallman
	💍 1921/10768
Condition	Widower 9:7:1919	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	9540
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

167

5 December 1921

Leslie James Ridgway
Ruby Muriel Mary Devitt

Leslie James Ridgway
Ruby Muriel Mary Devitt
💍 1921/10769

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Hand

22
21

Hamilton
Hamilton East

19 months
21 years

Methodist Church, Hamilton East

9541

5 December 1921

Rev. E. T. Olds, Methodist

No	167
Date of Notice	5 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie James Ridgway	Ruby Muriel Mary Devitt
	💍 1921/10769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Hand
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton East
Length of Residence	19 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hamilton East
Folio	9541
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. T. Olds, Methodist

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).