Intentions to Marry, 1922 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840505, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922b contains pages 423-876, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

[NOTE: roughly one-third of the images from this register were too out of focus to use, this will hopefully be rectified soon]

Page 536

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar F. J. Burgoyne

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

24 July 1922

Harry Birch
Charlotte Rose McNeil Smith

Harry Birch
Charlotte Rose McNeil Smith
💍 1922/6549

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

28
26

Karamu
Karamu

3 years
1 year

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East

5983

24 July 1922

Rev. M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

No	98
Date of Notice	24 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Birch	Charlotte Rose McNeil Smith
	💍 1922/6549
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Karamu	Karamu
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East
Folio	5983
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

24 July 1922

William Barton Lapwood
Barbara Ellen Henson

William Barton Laxon
Barbara Ellen Henson
💍 1922/6550

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
25

Whatawhata
Gordonton

27 years
1 year

St. Peters Church, Hamilton

5984

24 July 1922

Rev. E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	99
Date of Notice	24 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Barton Lapwood	Barbara Ellen Henson
BDM Match (91%)	William Barton Laxon	Barbara Ellen Henson
	💍 1922/6550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Whatawhata	Gordonton
Length of Residence	27 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Hamilton
Folio	5984
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. M. Cowie, Anglican

100

26 July 1922

John Lavandale Campbell
Eileen Margaret Duncan

John Tavandale Campbell
Eileen Margaret Duncan
💍 1922/6527

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
28

Hamilton
Hamilton

18 months
18 months

House of E. Gerrish, Clarence Street, Hamilton

5985

26 July 1922

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	100
Date of Notice	26 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lavandale Campbell	Eileen Margaret Duncan
BDM Match (98%)	John Tavandale Campbell	Eileen Margaret Duncan
	💍 1922/6527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	House of E. Gerrish, Clarence Street, Hamilton
Folio	5985
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

101

31 July 1922

William Robert Coward
Helen Mann

William Robert Coward
Helen Mann
💍 1922/6528

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

30
21

Hamilton
Taupiri

3 years
5 years

House of W. Walker, Taupiri

5986

31 July 1922

Rev. J. C. Mill, Presbyterian

No	101
Date of Notice	31 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Coward	Helen Mann
	💍 1922/6528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Taupiri
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of W. Walker, Taupiri
Folio	5986
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Mill, Presbyterian

102

31 July 1922

Thomas James Loughlin
Laura Brinkworth

Thomas James Loughlin
Laura Brinkworth
💍 1922/6529

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

25
22

Hamilton
Hamilton

7 years
8 years

House of M. E. Brinkworth, Matangi

5987

31 July 1922

Rev. M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

No	102
Date of Notice	31 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Loughlin	Laura Brinkworth
	💍 1922/6529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	House of M. E. Brinkworth, Matangi
Folio	5987
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

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).