Intentions to Marry, 1923 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840514, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923c contains pages 895-1334, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1003

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1923 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

1 January 1923

Wilmott Livingstone Diggens
Renee Bell Proud

Wilmott Livingstone Diggens
Renee Bell Proud
💍 1923/2094

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Home Duties

26
24

Thames
Thames

3 days
1 week

St Georges Church, Thames

1660

1 January 1923

Rev A. Beck, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilmott Livingstone Diggens	Renee Bell Proud
	💍 1923/2094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Home Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	1660
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Beck, Church of England

8 January 1923

Stewart Henry Walmsley
Edith Elvira Wright

Stewart Henry Walmsley
Edith Elvera Wright
💍 1923/2095

Bachelor
Divorced (date decree absolute 4 January 1923)

Mine Surveyor
Schoolteacher

33
22

Thames
Thames

3 days
7 years

House of Rev Mitchell, Thames

1661

8 January 1923

Rev Mitchell, Wesleyan

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Henry Walmsley	Edith Elvira Wright
BDM Match (97%)	Stewart Henry Walmsley	Edith Elvera Wright
	💍 1923/2095
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (date decree absolute 4 January 1923)
Profession	Mine Surveyor	Schoolteacher
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev Mitchell, Thames
Folio	1661
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev Mitchell, Wesleyan

8 January 1923

Alfred Hemsworth Williams
Evelyn Williamson

Alfred Hemsworth Williams
Evelyn Williamson
💍 1923/2960

Bachelor
Widow (27-11-14)

Master Mariner
Domestic Duties

40
39

Thames
Thames

5 months
7 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames

2674

8 January 1923

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	3
Date of Notice	8 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hemsworth Williams	Evelyn Williamson
	💍 1923/2960
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (27-11-14)
Profession	Master Mariner	Domestic Duties
Age	40	39
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	2674
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1923
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

26 January 1923

George Cecil Mayo
Florence Williams

George Cecil Mayo
Florence Williams
💍 1923/2096

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Dressmaker

24
22

Thames
Thames

23 years
16 years

St Georges Church, Thames

1662

26 January 1923

Rev A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	26 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cecil Mayo	Florence Williams
	💍 1923/2096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Dressmaker
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	1662
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Beck, Church of England

30 January 1923

Harry Patrick Wezlick
Elenor Margaret Novera Wallace

Henry Patrick Wenzlick
Elinor Margaret Novera Wallace
💍 1923/2097

Bachelor
Widow (24-6-19)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
33

Paeroa
Paeroa

18 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

1663

30 January 1923

Rev Father Doherty, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	30 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Patrick Wezlick	Elenor Margaret Novera Wallace
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Patrick Wenzlick	Elinor Margaret Novera Wallace
	💍 1923/2097
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (24-6-19)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	18 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	1663
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Doherty, 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).