Intentions to Marry, 1922 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840507, 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.

1922d contains pages 1291-1690, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1324

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar R. Braithwaite

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

1 September 1922

Edward Arthur Cunningham
Ivy Alding

Edward Arthur Cunningham
Ivy Alding
💍 1922/6032

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic

18
20

Whakatu, Hawke's Bay
Whakatu

18 years
1 year

Rev. H. Bean's Residence, Queen Street

6351

Charles Cunningham (father), William Alding (father)

4 September 1922

Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

No	66
Date of Notice	1 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Arthur Cunningham	Ivy Alding
	💍 1922/6032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Whakatu, Hawke's Bay	Whakatu
Length of Residence	18 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Rev. H. Bean's Residence, Queen Street
Folio	6351
Consent	Charles Cunningham (father), William Alding (father)
Date of Certificate	4 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

6 September 1922

James Edmund Sutcliffe
Emma Louisa Taylor

James Edmund Sutcliffe
Emma Louisa Taylor
💍 1922/6043

Bachelor
Spinster

Piano Tuner
Dressmaker

24
26

Hastings
Hastings

11 years
26 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

6352

6 September 1922

Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

No	67
Date of Notice	6 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edmund Sutcliffe	Emma Louisa Taylor
	💍 1922/6043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Piano Tuner	Dressmaker
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	11 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	6352
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

15 September 1922

William Nelson
Katherine Maud Orford

William Nelson
Katharine Maud Orford
💍 1922/6050

Widower
Spinster

Retired
Domestic duties

79
52

Hastings
Hastings

40 years
3 weeks

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

6353

15 September 1922

Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst, Anglican

No	68
Date of Notice	15 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Nelson	Katherine Maud Orford
BDM Match (98%)	William Nelson	Katharine Maud Orford
	💍 1922/6050
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Retired	Domestic duties
Age	79	52
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	40 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	6353
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst, Anglican

19 September 1922

Thomas James Sinclair
Catherine Maria Rae

Thomas James Sinclair
Catherine Maria Rae
💍 1922/6051

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Waitress

24
19

Hastings
Hastings

4 years
11 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

6354

William Boyd Rae (father)

19 September 1922

Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

No	69
Date of Notice	19 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Sinclair	Catherine Maria Rae
	💍 1922/6051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Waitress
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	6354
Consent	William Boyd Rae (father)
Date of Certificate	19 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

21 September 1922

Frank Sturmer Wilding
Erica Westall

Frank Sturmer Wilding
Erica Westall
💍 1922/6052

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister
Domestic duties

36
22

Christchurch
Havelock North

36 years
5 days

St. Luke's Church, Havelock North

6355

21 September 1922

Rev. Canon Maclean, Anglican

No	70
Date of Notice	21 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Sturmer Wilding	Erica Westall
	💍 1922/6052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister	Domestic duties
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Havelock North
Length of Residence	36 years	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Havelock North
Folio	6355
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Maclean, Anglican

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).