Intentions to Marry, 1925 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840530, 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.

1925c contains pages 925-1356, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1052

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 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

31 August 1925

Edward Francis Tunnell
Eileen Agnes Basou

Edward Francis Funnell
Eileen Agnes Bason
💍 1925/6698

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
26

Kopu
Thames

5 months
2 months

St Georges Church, Thames

6697

31 August 1925

Rev A. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	31 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Francis Tunnell	Eileen Agnes Basou
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Francis Funnell	Eileen Agnes Bason
	💍 1925/6698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Kopu	Thames
Length of Residence	5 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	6697
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Robertshawe, Church of England

3 September 1925

Anvill Percival Battison
Iris Marie Senior

Anville Percival Battison
Iris Mavis Senior
💍 1925/6699

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
17

Kailiere
Thames

1 year
3 days

Dwelling house of Mrs Jno Senior, Kailiere

6698

William John Senior (father)

3 September 1925

Rev Booker, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	3 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anvill Percival Battison	Iris Marie Senior
BDM Match (92%)	Anville Percival Battison	Iris Mavis Senior
	💍 1925/6699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Kailiere	Thames
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mrs Jno Senior, Kailiere
Folio	6698
Consent	William John Senior (father)
Date of Certificate	3 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev Booker, Methodist

4 September 1925

Maurice George Swamley Smith
Evelyn Alice May Corner

Maurice George Twamley Smith
Evelyn Alice May Corner
💍 1925/6700

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
21

Puriri
Omalu

11 years
8 years

St Georges Church, Thames

6699

4 September 1925

Rev A. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	4 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice George Swamley Smith	Evelyn Alice May Corner
BDM Match (98%)	Maurice George Twamley Smith	Evelyn Alice May Corner
	💍 1925/6700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Omalu
Length of Residence	11 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	6699
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Robertshawe, Church of England

11 September 1925

John Rushbrooke
Dorothy Florence Paul

John Rushbrooke
Dorothy Florence Paul
💍 1925/6701

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

24
23

Scariolia
Puriri

15 months
13 years

Anglican Church, Puriri

6700

11 September 1925

Rev A. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	11 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rushbrooke	Dorothy Florence Paul
	💍 1925/6701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Scariolia	Puriri
Length of Residence	15 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Puriri
Folio	6700
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Robertshawe, Church of England

14 September 1925

Alfred Edward Ausford
Winnie Agnes Crawford

Alfred Edward Ausford
Winnie Agnes Crawford
💍 1925/6709

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

19
24

Thames
Thames

6 years
24 years

Presbyterian Manse, Thames

6701

G. A. Ausford (father)

14 September 1925

Rev Jas Neilue, Presbyterian

No	38
Date of Notice	14 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Ausford	Winnie Agnes Crawford
	💍 1925/6709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	19	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Thames
Folio	6701
Consent	G. A. Ausford (father)
Date of Certificate	14 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas Neilue, 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).

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).