Intentions to Marry, 1924 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840522, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924c contains pages 907-1334, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1040

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1924 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

28 October 1924

James Henry Smale
Sylvia Winifred Judd

James Henry Smale
Sylvia Winifred Judd
💍 1924/7100

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

37
28

Takapuna
Thames

3 days
28 years

Methodist Church, Thames

9342

28 October 1924

A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	51
Date of Notice	28 October 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Smale	Sylvia Winifred Judd
	💍 1924/7100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Takapuna	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	9342
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1924
Officiating Minister	A. Ashcroft, Methodist

29 October 1924

Victor Thomas Herbert Gordon
Winifred Paton

Victor Thomas Herbert Gordon
Winifred Paton
💍 1924/7101

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
26

Kaihere
Kaihere

2 weeks
3 weeks

Registry Office, Thames

9343

29 October 1924

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	52
Date of Notice	29 October 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Thomas Herbert Gordon	Winifred Paton
	💍 1924/7101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	Kaihere	Kaihere
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registry Office, Thames
Folio	9343
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1924
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

6 November 1924

Edwin Charles Sherlock
Lilian May Stevenson

Edwin Charles Sherlock
Lilian May Stevenson
💍 1924/7102

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Manager
Household Duties

53
19

Thames
Thames

53 years
19 years

Dwelling of Robert Stevenson, Queen Street, Thames

9344

Robert Stevenson, Father

6 November 1924

H. Langford, Church of Christ

No	53
Date of Notice	6 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Charles Sherlock	Lilian May Stevenson
	💍 1924/7102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Manager	Household Duties
Age	53	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	53 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Robert Stevenson, Queen Street, Thames
Folio	9344
Consent	Robert Stevenson, Father
Date of Certificate	6 November 1924
Officiating Minister	H. Langford, Church of Christ

11 November 1924

John Pattillo
Bridget Mary Lewless

John Pattillo
Bridget Mary Lawless
💍 1924/7103

Bachelor
Spinster

Plate Layer
Waitress

26
28

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Thames

9345

11 November 1924

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	54
Date of Notice	11 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pattillo	Bridget Mary Lewless
BDM Match (98%)	John Pattillo	Bridget Mary Lawless
	💍 1924/7103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plate Layer	Waitress
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Thames
Folio	9345
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1924
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

14 November 1924

William Pearson
Doris Lillian Henderson

William Pearson
Doris Lillian Henderson
💍 1924/7105

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Book-keeper

24
22

Thames
Thames

18 years
22 years

St. Georges Church, Thames

9346

14 November 1924

N. F. E. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	55
Date of Notice	14 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pearson	Doris Lillian Henderson
	💍 1924/7105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Book-keeper
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	18 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges Church, Thames
Folio	9346
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1924
Officiating Minister	N. F. E. Robertshawe, Church of England

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).