Intentions to Marry, 1925 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840529, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925b contains pages 461-924, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 566

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 June 1925

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

4 April 1925

Frederick Charles Hewitt
Myrtle Ivy Curtis

Frederick Charles Hewitt
Myrtle Ivy Curtis
💍 1925/3099

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Employee

27
25

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 years
4 years

St. Pauls church, London St., Hamilton

3928

4 April 1925

W. Ready, Methodist

No	49
Date of Notice	4 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Hewitt	Myrtle Ivy Curtis
	💍 1925/3099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Employee
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls church, London St., Hamilton
Folio	3928
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Ready, Methodist

6 April 1925

Richard Bromwich
Agnes Sophia Bromwich

Richard Bromwich
Agnes Sophia Bromwich
💍 1925/3100

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

43
48

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 days

Registrar's office, Hamilton

3929

6 April 1925

Registrar

No	50
Date of Notice	6 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Bromwich	Agnes Sophia Bromwich
	💍 1925/3100
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	48
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Hamilton
Folio	3929
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

7 April 1925

Robert George Coughey
Thelma Florence Child

Robert George Coughey
Thelma Florence Child
💍 1925/3101

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Hamilton
Hamilton

7 years
12 years

St. Andrews church, Hamilton

3930

7 April 1925

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	7 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Coughey	Thelma Florence Child
	💍 1925/3101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews church, Hamilton
Folio	3930
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1925
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

8 April 1925

Cecil John Walsh
Catherine Mary Cameron

Cecil John Walsh
Catherine Mary Cameron
💍 1925/3102

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher

25
18

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 years
2 days

Roman Catholic church, Hamilton

3931

Archibald Cameron, Father

8 April 1925

M. J. Bleahley, Roman Catholic

No	52
Date of Notice	8 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil John Walsh	Catherine Mary Cameron
	💍 1925/3102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 years	2 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic church, Hamilton
Folio	3931
Consent	Archibald Cameron, Father
Date of Certificate	8 April 1925
Officiating Minister	M. J. Bleahley, Roman Catholic

9 April 1925

William Richard Provis Samuel Henry Edward Diven
Olive Blanche Orchard

Samuel Henry Edward Dwen
Olive Blanche Orchard
💍 1925/3103

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

22
23

Hamilton
Hamilton

18 months
18 months

St. Peters church, Hamilton

3932

9 April 1925

G. T. Robson, Anglican

No	53
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Provis Samuel Henry Edward Diven	Olive Blanche Orchard
BDM Match (74%)	Samuel Henry Edward Dwen	Olive Blanche Orchard
	💍 1925/3103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Peters church, Hamilton
Folio	3932
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	G. T. Robson, Anglican

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).