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 1017

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

14 November 1921

Percy McNiece
Dulcie Beryl Thorburn

Percy McNiece
Dulcie Beryl Thorburn
💍 1921/3774

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter
Shop assistant

25
21

Thames
Thames

25 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Grahamstown, Thames

9715

14 November 1921

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	14 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy McNiece	Dulcie Beryl Thorburn
	💍 1921/3774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Shop assistant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Grahamstown, Thames
Folio	9715
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

17 November 1921

Roland Henry Hall
Mabel Alma Connelly

Roland Henry Hall
Mabel Alma Connelly
💍 1921/3775

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Shop assistant

25
20

Thames
Thames

9 years
5 years

St. Francis Church, Thames

9716

John Connelly, father

17 November 1921

Rev. Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	64
Date of Notice	17 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Henry Hall	Mabel Alma Connelly
	💍 1921/3775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Shop assistant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church, Thames
Folio	9716
Consent	John Connelly, father
Date of Certificate	17 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

26 November 1921

Tauranga Matthews
Ellen Louisa Matthews

Tauranga Matthews
Ellen Louisa Matthews
💍 1921/3776

Bachelor
Widow (date of decease of husband 15 October 1920)

Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
30

Thames
Thames

32 years
30 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

9717

26 November 1921

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	65
Date of Notice	26 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tauranga Matthews	Ellen Louisa Matthews
	💍 1921/3776
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (date of decease of husband 15 October 1920)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	32 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	9717
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1921
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

2 December 1921

Henry Gordon Lang
Vera Elsie Jones Wilton

Henry Gordon Lang
Vera Elsie Jones Wilton
💍 1921/3777

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
House Keeper

26
20

Thames
Thames

26 years
20 years

St. Georges Church, Thames

9718

Section 27

19 December 1921

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	66
Date of Notice	2 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gordon Lang	Vera Elsie Jones Wilton
	💍 1921/3777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	House Keeper
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges Church, Thames
Folio	9718
Consent	Section 27
Date of Certificate	19 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

3 December 1921

Henry Lewis Alexander
Eva Ross

Henry Lewis Alexander
Eva Ross
💍 1921/3778

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Thames
Thames

25 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Thames

9719

3 December 1921

Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

No	67
Date of Notice	3 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lewis Alexander	Eva Ross
	💍 1921/3778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	9719
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell, 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).