Intentions to Marry, 1921 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840498, 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.

1921c contains pages 885-1316, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1013

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

9 July 1921

Eric Allan Roy Challis
Edna Grace Robinson

Eric Allan Roy Challis
Edna Grace Robinson
💍 1921/8481

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Shop assistant

25
23

Thames
Thames

25 years
23 years

St Georges Church, Thames

7121

9 July 1921

Rev Beck

No	44
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Allan Roy Challis	Edna Grace Robinson
	💍 1921/8481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Shop assistant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	7121
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Beck

14 July 1921

Roy Edward Smith
Violet Etelinde Collins

Roy Edward Smith
Violet Ethelinde Collins
💍 1921/8482

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
18

Kopuarahi
Kopuarahi

3 years
10 months

St Georges Church, Thames

7122

Elizabeth Collins mother

14 July 1921

Rev Beck

No	45
Date of Notice	14 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Edward Smith	Violet Etelinde Collins
BDM Match (98%)	Roy Edward Smith	Violet Ethelinde Collins
	💍 1921/8482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Kopuarahi	Kopuarahi
Length of Residence	3 years	10 months
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	7122
Consent	Elizabeth Collins mother
Date of Certificate	14 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Beck

18 July 1921

Alfred Matthews
May Henbest

Alfred Matthews
May Henbest
💍 1921/8483

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

24
20

Omahu
Omahu

3 days
15 months

Dwelling of C. W. Green, Omahu

7123

Walter Henry Henbest father

18 July 1921

Rev Beck

No	46
Date of Notice	18 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Matthews	May Henbest
	💍 1921/8483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Omahu	Omahu
Length of Residence	3 days	15 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of C. W. Green, Omahu
Folio	7123
Consent	Walter Henry Henbest father
Date of Certificate	18 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Beck

27 July 1921

James Kenneth McLeay
Eileen Mary O'Sullivan

James Kenneth McLean
Eileen Mary OSullivan
💍 1921/8484

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Household Duties

25 years
20 years

Thames
Thames

25 years
20 years

St Francis Church, Thames

7124

John William O'Sullivan (father)

27 July 1921

Rev Sallier

No	47
Date of Notice	27 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kenneth McLeay	Eileen Mary O'Sullivan
BDM Match (95%)	James Kenneth McLean	Eileen Mary OSullivan
	💍 1921/8484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Household Duties
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Church, Thames
Folio	7124
Consent	John William O'Sullivan (father)
Date of Certificate	27 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Sallier

1 August 1921

William Cuthbert McCollum
Annie O'Hara

William Cuthbert McCollum
Annie O'Hara
💍 1921/3317

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Post Mistress

29
26

Wharepoa
Wharepoa

20 years
12 years

Wharepoa Hall

7125

1 August 1921

Rev Beck

No	48
Date of Notice	1 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cuthbert McCollum	Annie O'Hara
	💍 1921/3317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Post Mistress
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wharepoa	Wharepoa
Length of Residence	20 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Wharepoa Hall
Folio	7125
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Beck

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).