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 1006

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1922 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

2 October 1922

Walter Hector McDonald Hancock
Mabel May Howe

Walter Hector McDonald Hancock
Mabel May Howe
💍 1922/7600

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Tailoress

20
22

Thames
Thames

20 years
22 years

St Georges Church, Thames

8584

William Hancock, father

2 October 1922

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	53
Date of Notice	2 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hector McDonald Hancock	Mabel May Howe
	💍 1922/7600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Tailoress
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	8584
Consent	William Hancock, father
Date of Certificate	2 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

24 October 1922

Eric William Gordon Grimshaw
Violet Hardman

Eric William Gordon Grimshaw
Violet Hardman
💍 1922/7601

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
31

Thames
Thames

3 days
31 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Thames

8585

24 October 1922

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	24 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric William Gordon Grimshaw	Violet Hardman
	💍 1922/7601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	8585
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

28 October 1922

James Robert Sawyer
Dora Hartwell

James Robert Sawyer
Dora Hartnell
💍 1922/7602

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Solicitor's Clerk

32
21

Thames
Thames

32 years
3 1/2 years

Shortland Hall, Shortland Bay, Thames

8586

28 October 1922

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	55
Date of Notice	28 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Sawyer	Dora Hartwell
BDM Match (96%)	James Robert Sawyer	Dora Hartnell
	💍 1922/7602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Solicitor's Clerk
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	32 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Shortland Hall, Shortland Bay, Thames
Folio	8586
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

31 October 1922

Maurice Augustus Richards
Winifred Marjorie Song

Maurice Augustus Richards
Winifred Marjorie Long
💍 1922/7603

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm contractor
Drapers assistant

30
24

Sioru
Thames

30 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Thames

8587

31 October 1922

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	31 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Augustus Richards	Winifred Marjorie Song
BDM Match (98%)	Maurice Augustus Richards	Winifred Marjorie Long
	💍 1922/7603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm contractor	Drapers assistant
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Sioru	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	8587
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

28 November 1922

Louis William Joseph Le Lievre
Mary Hogman

Louis William Joseph Le Lievre
Mary Hoffman
💍 1922/7604

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

19
18

Ngatea
Ngatea

6 weeks
10 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

8588

Annie Elizabeth Le Lievre, mother; John Outlow Hogman, father

28 November 1922

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriage, Thames

No	57
Date of Notice	28 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis William Joseph Le Lievre	Mary Hogman
BDM Match (92%)	Louis William Joseph Le Lievre	Mary Hoffman
	💍 1922/7604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	6 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	8588
Consent	Annie Elizabeth Le Lievre, mother; John Outlow Hogman, father
Date of Certificate	28 November 1922
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriage, Thames

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).