Intentions to Marry, 1900 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840417, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 121

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar John Philip Vause

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

17 January 1900

John Henry Gilbert Worley
Winifred Ann Worley

John Henry Gilbert
Winifred Ann Urry Urry
💍 1900/2665

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Cook

21
18

Otorohanga
Otorohanga

6 months
10 months

Residence of W. W. Crosby at Otorohanga

00/1285

Ann O'Donnell, mother of W. A. Worley

17 January 1900

Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

No	1
Date of Notice	17 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Gilbert Worley	Winifred Ann Worley
BDM Match (70%)	John Henry Gilbert	Winifred Ann Urry Urry
	💍 1900/2665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Cook
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Otorohanga
Length of Residence	6 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. W. Crosby at Otorohanga
Folio	00/1285
Consent	Ann O'Donnell, mother of W. A. Worley
Date of Certificate	17 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

13 February 1900

George Robert McGhie
Catherine Alice Qualtrough

George Robert McGhie
Catherine Alice Qualtrough
💍 1900/335

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
26

Kihikihi
Kihikihi

7 years
6 years

Residence of W. J. Qualtrough at Kihikihi

00/198

13 February 1900

Rev. John Erwin (Presbyterian)

No	2
Date of Notice	13 February 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert McGhie	Catherine Alice Qualtrough
	💍 1900/335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. J. Qualtrough at Kihikihi
Folio	00/198
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Erwin (Presbyterian)

6 March 1900

Percy Robert Collbrook
Ada Blanche Finch

Percy Robert Colebrook
Ada Blanche Finch
💍 1900/206

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

28
21

Te Kuiti
Pirongia

4 years
5 months

Residence of W. H. Finch at Pirongia

00/942

6 March 1900

Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

No	3
Date of Notice	6 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Robert Collbrook	Ada Blanche Finch
BDM Match (98%)	Percy Robert Colebrook	Ada Blanche Finch
	💍 1900/206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Te Kuiti	Pirongia
Length of Residence	4 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Finch at Pirongia
Folio	00/942
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

13 March 1900

Collie Solomon Besbos
Rebecca Besbos

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

30
20

Otorohanga
Otorohanga

3 years
2 months

Otorohanga Hall at Otorohanga

00/943

13 March 1900

Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

No	4
Date of Notice	13 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Collie Solomon Besbos	Rebecca Besbos
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Otorohanga
Length of Residence	3 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Otorohanga Hall at Otorohanga
Folio	00/943
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

19 March 1900

William Fraser Gillard
Lydia Gillard

William Frazer
Lydia Gillard
💍 1900/208

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

35
34

Hopua, near Pirongia
Te Awamutu

1 month
3 days

St. John's Church at Te Awamutu

00/944

19 March 1900

Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

No	5
Date of Notice	19 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fraser Gillard	Lydia Gillard
BDM Match (80%)	William Frazer	Lydia Gillard
	💍 1900/208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Hopua, near Pirongia	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	1 month	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church at Te Awamutu
Folio	00/944
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

29 March 1900

Eugene Horace Cabot
Christina Emily Steel

Eugene Horace Cabot Aubin
Christina Emily Steel
💍 1900/2796

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Postmistress

28
26

Pirongia
Pirongia

2 years
9 months

Residence of John Allan at Pirongia

00/1853

29 March 1900

Rev. F. Latter (Church of England)

No	6
Date of Notice	29 March 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eugene Horace Cabot	Christina Emily Steel
BDM Match (88%)	Eugene Horace Cabot Aubin	Christina Emily Steel
	💍 1900/2796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Postmistress
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Pirongia	Pirongia
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of John Allan at Pirongia
Folio	00/1853
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter (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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).