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 1026

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 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

10 March 1924

Edwin Alfred Clark
Elizabeth Augusta Penno

Edwin Alfred Clark
Elizabeth Augusta Penno
💍 1924/9834

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

25
21

Thames
Thames

4 days
21 years

St. George's Church, Thames

1565

10 March 1924

Arthur J. Beck, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	10 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Alfred Clark	Elizabeth Augusta Penno
	💍 1924/9834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	1565
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Arthur J. Beck, Church of England

11 March 1924

James Bateman
Emily Maxwell

James Bateman
Emily Maxwell
💍 1924/9835

Widower 12/12/22
Widow 2/9/21

Labourer
Domestic Duties

70
72

Thames
Thames

49 years
50 years

Church of Christ, Thames

1566

11 March 1924

Herbert Langford, Church of Christ

No	7
Date of Notice	11 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bateman	Emily Maxwell
	💍 1924/9835
Condition	Widower 12/12/22	Widow 2/9/21
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	70	72
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	49 years	50 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Thames
Folio	1566
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Herbert Langford, Church of Christ

20 March 1924

Richard Gooder
Annie Gibson McQuade

Richard Gooder
Annie Gibson McQuade
💍 1924/9836

Widower 15/3/22
Spinster

Retired Farmer
Domestic Duties

58
49

Thames
Dwelling of William Smith, Rolleston Street, Thames

10 years
49 years

Dwelling of William Smith, Rolleston Street, Thames

1567

20 March 1924

James Milne, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	20 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Gooder	Annie Gibson McQuade
	💍 1924/9836
Condition	Widower 15/3/22	Spinster
Profession	Retired Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	58	49
Dwelling Place	Thames	Dwelling of William Smith, Rolleston Street, Thames
Length of Residence	10 years	49 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Smith, Rolleston Street, Thames
Folio	1567
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1924
Officiating Minister	James Milne, Presbyterian

24 March 1924

Norman Frank Blanchett
Mary Louisa McMillan

Norman Frank Blanchett
Mary Louisa McMillan
💍 1924/9837

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Thames
Thames

4 days
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Thames

1568

Norman Archibald Mc Millan, Father

24 March 1924

James Milne, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	24 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Frank Blanchett	Mary Louisa McMillan
	💍 1924/9837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	1568
Consent	Norman Archibald Mc Millan, Father
Date of Certificate	24 March 1924
Officiating Minister	James Milne, Presbyterian

24 March 1924

Roy Alfred Cox
Lillian Doris Cairns

Roy Alfred Cox
Lillian Doris Cairns
💍 1924/9838

Bachelor
Spinster

Milk Vendor
Domestic

23
18

Thames
Thames

23 years
5 1/2 years

St. James Presbyterian Church, Thames

1569

Alice Maud Collins, Mother

24 March 1924

James Milne, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	24 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Alfred Cox	Lillian Doris Cairns
	💍 1924/9838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milk Vendor	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	5 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	1569
Consent	Alice Maud Collins, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 March 1924
Officiating Minister	James Milne, Presbyterian

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).