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 1438

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar Buchanan

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 March 1926

William Henry Brocklehurst
Sarah Ann Moody

William Henry Brocklehurst
Sarah Ann Moody
💍 1926/1971

Divorced, Decree absolute 30 August 1924
Widow, 12 March 1915

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

61
60

Napier
Napier

2 years
12 months

27 Madeira Steps, Napier

2124

1 March 1926

B. Metson, Methodist

No	26
Date of Notice	1 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Brocklehurst	Sarah Ann Moody
	💍 1926/1971
Condition	Divorced, Decree absolute 30 August 1924	Widow, 12 March 1915
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	61	60
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	12 months
Marriage Place	27 Madeira Steps, Napier
Folio	2124
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1926
Officiating Minister	B. Metson, Methodist

3 March 1926

William Oswald Nicholls
Ivy Constance Warde

William Oswald Nicholls
Ivy Constance Warde
💍 1926/1972

Bachelor
Divorced, Decree absolute 7 September 1925

Insurance Agent
Office Assistant

34
36

Napier
Napier

14 months
6 months

The Manse, Napier

2125

3 March 1926

G. B. Jardine, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	3 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Oswald Nicholls	Ivy Constance Warde
	💍 1926/1972
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, Decree absolute 7 September 1925
Profession	Insurance Agent	Office Assistant
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	14 months	6 months
Marriage Place	The Manse, Napier
Folio	2125
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1926
Officiating Minister	G. B. Jardine, Presbyterian

3 March 1926

Alan John Gurr
Dorothy Douglas

Alan John Gurr
Dorothy Douglas
💍 1926/3171

Bachelor
Spinster

Typewriter Mechanic
Domestic

21
16

Napier
Napier

9 years
3 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

2126

Mary McLean, formerly Douglas, Mother

3 March 1926

F. Mayne, Registrar, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	3 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan John Gurr	Dorothy Douglas
	💍 1926/3171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Typewriter Mechanic	Domestic
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	2126
Consent	Mary McLean, formerly Douglas, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 March 1926
Officiating Minister	F. Mayne, Registrar, Church of England

3 March 1926

Stewart Gordon Northe
Doris Northey

Stewart Gordon Northe
Doris Northey
💍 1926/3182

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk
Domestic

25
23

Napier
Westshore

25 years
23 years

Residence of John Northey, Westshore

2126

3 March 1926

C. Matear, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	3 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Gordon Northe	Doris Northey
	💍 1926/3182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Westshore
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Northey, Westshore
Folio	2126
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1926
Officiating Minister	C. Matear, Presbyterian

4 March 1926

Leslie Campbell Hawthorne
Caroline Florence Ellen Tiller

Leslie Campbell Hawthorne
Caroline Florence Ellen Tiller
💍 1926/3189

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

35
31

Napier
Napier

30 years
8 months

The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier

2128

4 March 1926

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	4 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Campbell Hawthorne	Caroline Florence Ellen Tiller
	💍 1926/3189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	8 months
Marriage Place	The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier
Folio	2128
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, 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).