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 1015

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 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

3 October 1921

Robert Henry Irving
Esther Reece Evans

Robert Henry Irving
Esther Reece Evans
💍 1921/3787

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman
Domestic Duties

22
25

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Tararu, Thames

9705

3 October 1921

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	3 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Irving	Esther Reece Evans
	💍 1921/3787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman	Domestic Duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tararu, Thames
Folio	9705
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

14 October 1921

Arthur Baxter
Gladys Jones

Arthur Baxter
Gladys Jones
💍 1921/3788

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Nurse

30
30

Ngatea
Ngatea

9 years
5 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames

9706

14 October 1921

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	54
Date of Notice	14 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Baxter	Gladys Jones
	💍 1921/3788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Nurse
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	9 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	9706
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1921
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

14 October 1921

Gordon Aitken Denize
Eliza Ward Hayes

Gordon Aitken Dunlop
Eliza Ward Hayes
💍 1921/3789

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat Inspector
Domestic

27
21

Thames
Thames

1 week
6 years

Methodist Church, Thames

9707

14 October 1921

Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

No	55
Date of Notice	14 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Aitken Denize	Eliza Ward Hayes
BDM Match (90%)	Gordon Aitken Dunlop	Eliza Ward Hayes
	💍 1921/3789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat Inspector	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 week	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	9707
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

17 October 1921

Alexander Balfour Campbell
Nellie Gertrude Sherlock

Alexander Balfour Campbell
Nellie Gertrude Sherlock
💍 1921/3790

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer's Fitter
Tailoress

21
20

Thames
Thames

21 years
20 years

Dwelling of E. H. Taylor, Bowen Street, Thames

9708

Alfred Sherlock, Father

17 October 1921

Rev. E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	56
Date of Notice	17 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Balfour Campbell	Nellie Gertrude Sherlock
	💍 1921/3790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer's Fitter	Tailoress
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of E. H. Taylor, Bowen Street, Thames
Folio	9708
Consent	Alfred Sherlock, Father
Date of Certificate	17 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

17 October 1921

William Askew Pulleine
Annie Beatrice Cribb

William Askew Pulleine
Annie Beatrice Cribb
💍 1921/3791

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Household Duties

49
34

Puriri
Puriri

2 years
34 years

Methodist Church, Puriri

9709

17 October 1921

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	17 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Askew Pulleine	Annie Beatrice Cribb
	💍 1921/3791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Household Duties
Age	49	34
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	2 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Puriri
Folio	9709
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, 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).