Intentions to Marry, 1926 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840539, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926d contains pages 1389-1806, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1425

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar R. B. Ashworth

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

1 October 1926

Maurice Straight
Wynne Hamber

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Household duties

32
29

Christchurch
Greenhill, Hastings

10 years
29 years

Marakakaho Hall, H. Bay

9858

5 October 1926

Rev. J. G. Asher, Anglican

No	96
Date of Notice	1 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Straight	Wynne Hamber
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Household duties
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Greenhill, Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Marakakaho Hall, H. Bay
Folio	9858
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Asher, Anglican

2 October 1926

Thomas Francis Jones
May Victoria Feist

Thomas Francis Jones
May Victoria Feist
💍 1926/8594

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
21

Hastings
Hastings

1 week
6 months

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9859

2 October 1926

Rev. J. R. Thompson, Anglican

No	97
Date of Notice	2 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Jones	May Victoria Feist
	💍 1926/8594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	1 week	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9859
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Thompson, Anglican

9 October 1926

Harold Hubert Harding
Helen Margaret Ens Bird

Harold Hubert Harding
Helen Margaret Elms Hird
💍 1926/8571

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Milliner

29
30

Hastings
Hastings

10 years
30 years

St. Andrews Church, Hastings

9860

9 October 1926

Rev. D. G. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	9 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Hubert Harding	Helen Margaret Ens Bird
BDM Match (94%)	Harold Hubert Harding	Helen Margaret Elms Hird
	💍 1926/8571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Milliner
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	9860
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. G. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

9 October 1926

Noel William Bishop
Ethel Beatrix Trumper

Noel William Bishop
Ethel Beatrix Trumper
💍 1926/8572

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic duties

19
21

Napier
Hastings

18 months
18 months

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9861

Bertie Leonard Bishop, father

9 October 1926

Rev. J. R. Thompson, Anglican

No	99
Date of Notice	9 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noel William Bishop	Ethel Beatrix Trumper
	💍 1926/8572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9861
Consent	Bertie Leonard Bishop, father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Thompson, Anglican

100

18 October 1926

Claude Lawrence Rosser
Margaret Vernon Speers

Claude Lawrence Rosser
Margaret Vernon Speers
💍 1926/8573

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
23

Paki Paki
Paki Paki

5 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

9862

18 October 1926

Rev. D. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	100
Date of Notice	18 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Lawrence Rosser	Margaret Vernon Speers
	💍 1926/8573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Paki Paki	Paki Paki
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	9862
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. G. Shaw, 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).