Intentions to Marry, 1925 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840531, 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.

1925d contains pages 1357-1784, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1383

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar R. Brathwaite

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

21 March 1925

Joseph David Bull
Ethel Margaret Johanna Simmonds

Joseph David Bull
Ethel Margaret Johanna Simmonds
💍 1925/1259

Bachelor
Spinster

Branch Manager
Domestic

35
36

Hastings
Hastings

9 months
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Hastings

1859

21 March 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	21 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph David Bull	Ethel Margaret Johanna Simmonds
	💍 1925/1259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Branch Manager	Domestic
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	9 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Hastings
Folio	1859
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

23 March 1925

Sydney Charles Collinge
Gladys Muriel Connell

Sydney Charles Collinge
Gladys Muriel McConnell
💍 1925/1236

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Clerk

25
22

Shannon
Hastings

2 years
12 years

St Andrews Church, Hastings

1860

23 March 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	23 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Charles Collinge	Gladys Muriel Connell
BDM Match (96%)	Sydney Charles Collinge	Gladys Muriel McConnell
	💍 1925/1236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	1860
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

23 March 1925

Edward Gillespie Armstrong
Lavinia Chandler Tait

Edward Gillespie Armstrong
Lavinia Chandler Tait
💍 1925/1237

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Clerk

29
32

Hastings
Hastings

3 months
10 days

Registrars Office, Hastings

1861

23 March 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	23 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Gillespie Armstrong	Lavinia Chandler Tait
	💍 1925/1237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Clerk
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 months	10 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Hastings
Folio	1861
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

24 March 1925

Albert James Pelford
Cora de Greenlaw

Albert James Pulford
Cora De Greenlaw
💍 1925/9990

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute June 1922)

Law Clerk
School teacher

31
42

Upapa
Upapa

1 year
2 years

Registrars Office, Hastings

1862

24 March 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	24 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Pelford	Cora de Greenlaw
BDM Match (94%)	Albert James Pulford	Cora De Greenlaw
	💍 1925/9990
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute June 1922)
Profession	Law Clerk	School teacher
Age	31	42
Dwelling Place	Upapa	Upapa
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Hastings
Folio	1862
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

24 March 1925

Lionel Henry Austin
Glady Murray

Lionel Henry Austin
Gladys Murray
💍 1925/1238

Bachelor
Widow (9 February 1924)

Secretary
Domestic duties

30
29

Hastings
Hastings

10 years
2 years

St Matthews Church, Hastings

1863

24 March 1925

Rev. Draper, Anglican

No	35
Date of Notice	24 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Henry Austin	Glady Murray
BDM Match (96%)	Lionel Henry Austin	Gladys Murray
	💍 1925/1238
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (9 February 1924)
Profession	Secretary	Domestic duties
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	1863
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Draper, 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).