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 1392

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 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

4 June 1925

Sydney Marshall Keith
Vera Marjorie Britten

Sydney Marshall Keith
Vera Marjorie Britten
💍 1925/4716

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Stenographer

33
26

Hastings
Hastings

8 months
26 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4445

4 June 1925

Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

No	42
Date of Notice	4 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Marshall Keith	Vera Marjorie Britten
	💍 1925/4716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Stenographer
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	8 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4445
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

4 June 1925

Augustine Aloysius Bagley
Abigail Seritta Schroder

Augustine Aloysius Bagley
Abigail Heneritta Schroder
💍 1925/4717

Bachelor
Spinster

Barber
Domestic duties

26
23

Napier
Hastings

8 years
14 years

Sacred Heart Church, Hastings

4446

4 June 1925

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	43
Date of Notice	4 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustine Aloysius Bagley	Abigail Seritta Schroder
BDM Match (94%)	Augustine Aloysius Bagley	Abigail Heneritta Schroder
	💍 1925/4717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barber	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hastings
Folio	4446
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

8 June 1925

Maitland John Sinclair
Lillian Bedingfield

Maitland John Sinclair
Lillian Bedingfield
💍 1925/4718

Widower
Spinster

Salesman
Schoolteacher

34
25

Hastings
Hastings

7 months
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

4447

8 June 1925

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	8 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maitland John Sinclair	Lillian Bedingfield
	💍 1925/4718
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Schoolteacher
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	4447
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

8 June 1925

Reginald Stoneham Maurice Mason
Kathleen Gray Paterson

Reginald Stoneham Maurice Mason
Kathleen Gray Paterson
💍 1925/4719

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
19

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

24 years
14 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4448

William Gray Paterson, Father

8 June 1925

Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

No	45
Date of Notice	8 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Stoneham Maurice Mason	Kathleen Gray Paterson
	💍 1925/4719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	24 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4448
Consent	William Gray Paterson, Father
Date of Certificate	8 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

9 June 1925

Ernest Horace Batchelor
Mona Vernon

Ernest Horace Batchelor
Mona Vernon
💍 1925/4720

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic duties

21
20

Napier
Havelock North

2 years
14 years

St. Lukes Church, Havelock North

4449

Cecil Sydney Vernon, Father

19 June 1925

Rev. R. E. Maclean, Anglican

No	46
Date of Notice	9 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Horace Batchelor	Mona Vernon
	💍 1925/4720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Havelock North
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Havelock North
Folio	4449
Consent	Cecil Sydney Vernon, Father
Date of Certificate	19 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. E. Maclean, 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).