Intentions to Marry, 1904 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840425, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 13 2025.

1904 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 246

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1904 Registrar George John Alexander Johnstone

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

1476

30 May 1904

Ferdinand Stuart
Helen Hird

Ferdinand Stuart
Helen Hird
💍 1904/2965

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer

26
22

Ormond, Poverty Bay
Ormond, Poverty Bay

12 years
All her life

Residence of Mr. R. Stuart at Ormond, Poverty Bay

04/1949

30 May 1904

Rev. Fred Jas. Tylee, Presbyterian

No	1476
Date of Notice	30 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ferdinand Stuart	Helen Hird
	💍 1904/2965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Ormond, Poverty Bay	Ormond, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	12 years	All her life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Stuart at Ormond, Poverty Bay
Folio	04/1949
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fred Jas. Tylee, Presbyterian

1477

30 May 1904

Walter Sydney Collins
Isabel Mary Humphrays

Walter Sydney Collins
Isabel Mary Humphreys
💍 1904/2967

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

27
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
All her life

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

04/1952

Humphrays, father

Rev. Herbert Wm. Williams, Church of England

No	1477
Date of Notice	30 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Sydney Collins	Isabel Mary Humphrays
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Sydney Collins	Isabel Mary Humphreys
	💍 1904/2967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	All her life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	04/1952
Consent	Humphrays, father
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert Wm. Williams, Church of England

1478

31 May 1904

Claude Morley Hutchinson
Susan Moore

Claude Morley Hutchinson
Susan Moore
💍 1904/1007

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

32
26

Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Te Karaka, Poverty Bay

18 months
15 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at Gisborne

04/1970

31 May 1904

Rev. James H. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1478
Date of Notice	31 May 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Morley Hutchinson	Susan Moore
	💍 1904/1007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Te Karaka, Poverty Bay	Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	18 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at Gisborne
Folio	04/1970
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. James H. Paterson, Presbyterian

1479

6 June 1904

Richard Edward Cook
Ethel Ferguson Bremner

Richard Edward Cook
Ethel Ferguson Breingan
💍 1904/2980

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic servant

25
24

Waerenga-a-hika
Patutahi

All his life
All her life

Presbyterian Church at Matawhero, Poverty Bay

04/1940

6 June 1904

Rev. Robert Gardner, Presbyterian

No	1479
Date of Notice	6 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edward Cook	Ethel Ferguson Bremner
BDM Match (91%)	Richard Edward Cook	Ethel Ferguson Breingan
	💍 1904/2980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic servant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Waerenga-a-hika	Patutahi
Length of Residence	All his life	All her life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Matawhero, Poverty Bay
Folio	04/1940
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Gardner, Presbyterian

1480

7 June 1904

George Anderson Graham
Ethel Vincent

George Anderson
Ethel Vincent
💍 1904/1008

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic servant

25
16

Gisborne
Whataupoko

23 months
10 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at Gisborne

04/1971

Vincent, father

7 June 1904

Rev. James Gillies Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1480
Date of Notice	7 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Anderson Graham	Ethel Vincent
BDM Match (84%)	George Anderson	Ethel Vincent
	💍 1904/1008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic servant
Age	25	16
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Whataupoko
Length of Residence	23 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at Gisborne
Folio	04/1971
Consent	Vincent, father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Gillies Paterson, Presbyterian

1481

7 June 1904

Walter Douglas Brewer Pittar
Emily Ida de Lautour

Walter Douglas Brewer Pittar
Emily Ida de Lantom
💍 1904/2969

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

27
19

Auckland
Gisborne

27 years
All her life

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

04/1953

Cecil Albert de Lautour, father

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	1481
Date of Notice	7 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Douglas Brewer Pittar	Emily Ida de Lautour
BDM Match (93%)	Walter Douglas Brewer Pittar	Emily Ida de Lantom
	💍 1904/2969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Gisborne
Length of Residence	27 years	All her life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	04/1953
Consent	Cecil Albert de Lautour, father
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, 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).