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 1434

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar W. 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

19 January 1926

Henry Edward Beattie
Mavis Monat Foster

Henry Edward Beattie
Mavis Mouat Foster
💍 1926/1974

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
20

Kaiwaka
Bay View

9 years
12 years

Memorial Church, Eskdale

2104

Marie Caroline Foster, mother

19 January 1926

Canon Clarke, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	19 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Beattie	Mavis Monat Foster
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Edward Beattie	Mavis Mouat Foster
	💍 1926/1974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	20
Dwelling Place	Kaiwaka	Bay View
Length of Residence	9 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Memorial Church, Eskdale
Folio	2104
Consent	Marie Caroline Foster, mother
Date of Certificate	19 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Canon Clarke, Church of England

21 January 1926

Frederick Thomas Shannon
Mabel Sims

Frederick Thomas Shannon
Mabel Sims
💍 1926/1975

Widower
Spinster

Government Employee
Domestic Duties

42
43

Napier
Westshore

18 years
43 years

Residence of Mr. Sims, Westshore

2105

21 January 1926

Canon Clarke, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	21 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Thomas Shannon	Mabel Sims
	💍 1926/1975
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Government Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	42	43
Dwelling Place	Napier	Westshore
Length of Residence	18 years	43 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Sims, Westshore
Folio	2105
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Canon Clarke, Church of England

23 January 1926

Harold Noel Farnell
Edith Lillian Dorothy Annan

Harold Noel Farnell
Edith Lillian Dorothy Annan
💍 1926/1976

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Clerk

27
27

Napier
Wellington

2 days
3 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

2106

23 January 1926

Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	23 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Noel Farnell	Edith Lillian Dorothy Annan
	💍 1926/1976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Clerk
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	2106
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Dean Mayne, Church of England

25 January 1926

Robert William England
Nora Alberta Wiley

Robert William England
Nora Alberta Wiley
💍 1926/1977

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Bookkeeper

34
25

Napier
Napier

8 years
8 years

Methodist Church, Napier

2107

25 January 1926

B. Metson, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	25 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William England	Nora Alberta Wiley
	💍 1926/1977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Bookkeeper
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	2107
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1926
Officiating Minister	B. Metson, Methodist

25 January 1926

Charles Roy Keeling Bourke
Eileen Niniwa Benton

Charles Roy Keeling Bourke
Eileen Niniwa Benton
💍 1926/1978

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Accountant

28
27

Napier
Herekino

3 days
5 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

2108

25 January 1926

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	25 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Roy Keeling Bourke	Eileen Niniwa Benton
	💍 1926/1978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Accountant
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Herekino
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	2108
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1926
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, Church of England

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).