Intentions to Marry, 1924 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840523, 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.

1924d contains pages 1335-1758, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1387

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

3 January 1924

James Nash Uren
Emma Golder

James Nash Uren
Emma Golder
💍 1924/9915

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

29
21

Napier
Napier

4 years
15 years

Residence of Mrs. Sims, 20 Munroe Street, Napier

1769

3 January 1924

J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Nash Uren	Emma Golder
	💍 1924/9915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Sims, 20 Munroe Street, Napier
Folio	1769
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1924
Officiating Minister	J. R. Richards, Methodist

4 January 1924

Arthur Lander Thompson
Elsie Maud Forrest

Arthur Lander Thompson
Elsie Maud Forrest
💍 1924/9916

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Domestic Duties

28
26

Napier
Hastings

3 weeks
5 months

St. Paul's Church, Napier

1770

4 January 1924

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lander Thompson	Elsie Maud Forrest
	💍 1924/9916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	1770
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1924
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

7 January 1924

Henry Peter Arnott
Dulcie Vera Golding

Henry Peter Arnott
Dulcie Vera Golding
💍 1924/9917

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

28
23

Napier
Napier

20 years
23 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

1771

7 January 1924

Dean F. Mayne, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	7 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Peter Arnott	Dulcie Vera Golding
	💍 1924/9917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	1771
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Dean F. Mayne, Church of England

8 January 1924

William Hearn
Isabel Hume

William Hume
Isabel Hume
💍 1924/9918

Divorced, Decree Absolute 12 April 1921
Spinster

Pastry cook
Weaver

32
31

Napier
Napier

30 years
4 weeks

Residence of Richard Hearn, Main Street, Napier

1772

8 January 1924

J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	8 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hearn	Isabel Hume
BDM Match (85%)	William Hume	Isabel Hume
	💍 1924/9918
Condition	Divorced, Decree Absolute 12 April 1921	Spinster
Profession	Pastry cook	Weaver
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Richard Hearn, Main Street, Napier
Folio	1772
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1924
Officiating Minister	J. R. Richards, Methodist

14 January 1924

Leslie Gibbs Fifield
Beatrice Plowman

Leslie Gibbs Fifield
Beatrice Plowman
💍 1924/9919

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic

28
34

Napier
Napier

4 years
16 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1773

14 January 1924

A. Neild, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	14 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Gibbs Fifield	Beatrice Plowman
	💍 1924/9919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1773
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1924
Officiating Minister	A. Neild, 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).