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 1172

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar J. O'Gorman

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

30 January 1923

John Roy Penniall
Doris Cornwall Williamson

John Roy Penniall
Doris Cornwall Williamson
💍 1923/2173

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

28
21

Hawera
Hawera

5 days
5 years

Residence of Mrs Williamson, 37 Vogel Street, Hawera

1739

30 January 1923

E. J. Dabourne, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	30 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roy Penniall	Doris Cornwall Williamson
	💍 1923/2173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	5 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Williamson, 37 Vogel Street, Hawera
Folio	1739
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1923
Officiating Minister	E. J. Dabourne, Presbyterian

8 February 1923

Robert Neil Bowles
Charlotte Doris Ethel Stone

Robert Neil Bowles
Charlotte Doris Ethel Stone
💍 1923/2174

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Clerk

38
24

Hawera
Hawera

4 years
24 years

Residence of Mrs E. B. Stone, 21 Grey Street, Hawera

1740

8 February 1923

H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	8 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Neil Bowles	Charlotte Doris Ethel Stone
	💍 1923/2174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Clerk
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs E. B. Stone, 21 Grey Street, Hawera
Folio	1740
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1923
Officiating Minister	H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

17 February 1923

Herbert Stuart Clement
Constance Emily Eliza Horton

Herbert Stuart Clement
Constance Emily Eliza Horton
💍 1923/2175

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

22
21

Hawera
Hawera

9 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Hawera

1741

17 February 1923

H. Curran, Undenominational

No	8
Date of Notice	17 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Stuart Clement	Constance Emily Eliza Horton
	💍 1923/2175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hawera
Folio	1741
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1923
Officiating Minister	H. Curran, Undenominational

26 February 1923

Alexander Galloway
Ella Mary Linn

Alexander Galloway
Ella May Linn
💍 1923/2176

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

24
29

Normanby
Normanby

4 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Normanby

1742

26 February 1923

H. Curran, Undenominational

No	9
Date of Notice	26 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Galloway	Ella Mary Linn
BDM Match (96%)	Alexander Galloway	Ella May Linn
	💍 1923/2176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Normanby	Normanby
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Normanby
Folio	1742
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1923
Officiating Minister	H. Curran, Undenominational

10 March 1923

Walter Edward Wickham
Louisa Hill

Walter Edward Wickham
Louisa Hill
💍 1923/2177

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

51
42

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Hawera

1743

10 March 1923

R. Franklin, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	10 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Wickham	Louisa Hill
	💍 1923/2177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	51	42
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	1743
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1923
Officiating Minister	R. Franklin, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).