Intentions to Marry, 1922 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840506, 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.

1922c contains pages 877-1290, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1115

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar H. J. B. [illegible]

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

16 October 1922

Alfred Jackson Coward
Annie Doris Willcocks

Alfred Jackson Coward
Annie Doris Willcocks
💍 1922/7702

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher of music

25
21

Thornton
Whangarei

/
3 years

Christ Church, Whangarei

8637

16 October 1922

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	61
Date of Notice	16 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Jackson Coward	Annie Doris Willcocks
	💍 1922/7702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher of music
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Thornton	Whangarei
Length of Residence	/	3 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Whangarei
Folio	8637
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

25 October 1922

John Frederick Wilcher
Dulcie Marjorie Avis Mewett

John Frederick Wilsher
Dulcie Marjorie Avis Mewett
💍 1922/7703

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
26

Ruatangata East
Kamo

3 years
3 years

Church of England, Kamo

8638

25 October 1922

Rev. G. C. Nicholas, Church of England

No	62
Date of Notice	25 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Wilcher	Dulcie Marjorie Avis Mewett
BDM Match (98%)	John Frederick Wilsher	Dulcie Marjorie Avis Mewett
	💍 1922/7703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Ruatangata East	Kamo
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kamo
Folio	8638
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Nicholas, Church of England

31 October 1922

Arthur Keith Hambly
Marjorie Evelyn Rolleston

Arthur Keith Lambly
Marjorie Evelyn Rolleston
💍 1922/7704

Bachelor
Spinster

Staff officer Military Forces
Domestic

24
21

Whangarei
Whangarei

1 day
16 days

Christ Church, Whangarei

8639

31 October 1922

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	63
Date of Notice	31 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Keith Hambly	Marjorie Evelyn Rolleston
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Keith Lambly	Marjorie Evelyn Rolleston
	💍 1922/7704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Staff officer Military Forces	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	1 day	16 days
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Whangarei
Folio	8639
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

15 November 1922

Charles George Edwin Wright
Lydia Doris Smith

Charles George Edwin Wright
Lydia Doris Smith
💍 1922/7705

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

27
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

14 years
5 years

Church of England, Whangarei

8640

Ernest Smith, Father

15 November 1922

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	64
Date of Notice	15 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles George Edwin Wright	Lydia Doris Smith
	💍 1922/7705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	8640
Consent	Ernest Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	15 November 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

20 November 1922

Charles Stanley Dunfoy
Lexie Pohe

Charles Stanley Dunfoy
Lexie Pohe
💍 1922/7706

Divorced decree absolute 15/3/21
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

36
19

Whangarei
Parua Bay

2 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

8641

George Pohe, Father

20 November 1922

F. Prince, Registrar

No	65
Date of Notice	20 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stanley Dunfoy	Lexie Pohe
	💍 1922/7706
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 15/3/21	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	36	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Parua Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	8641
Consent	George Pohe, Father
Date of Certificate	20 November 1922
Officiating Minister	F. Prince, Registrar

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).