Intentions to Marry, 1915 Albertland to Hamilton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840457, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1915a contains pages 1-518, covering districts from Albertland to Hamilton

Page 405

District of Cambridge Quarter ending 30th day of September 1915 Registrar Aaaung

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

10 July 1915

Alfred William Scott
Annie Wallace Watson

Alfred William Scott
Annie Wallace Watson
💍 1915/3025

Harry William King
Annie Rebecca Watson
💍 1915/5275

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
22

Pukerimu
Pukerimu

3½ years
5 years

Private Residence of Wm Watson

5050

10 July 1915

W. J. Gow Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Scott	Annie Wallace Watson
	💍 1915/3025
BDM Match (60%)	Harry William King	Annie Rebecca Watson
	💍 1915/5275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Pukerimu	Pukerimu
Length of Residence	3½ years	5 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Wm Watson
Folio	5050
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	W. J. Gow Presbyterian

12 July 1915

Thomas Henry Lansdall
Margaret Paton McDougall

Thomas Henry Lausdall
Margaret Paton McDougall
💍 1915/14617

Divorced
Divorced

Farmer
Domestic Duties

45
33

Auckland
Auckland Cambridge

12 months
12 months

Registrar's Office

5049

16 July 1915

A.D. Bennett Registrar of Marriages

No	15
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Lansdall	Margaret Paton McDougall
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Henry Lausdall	Margaret Paton McDougall
	💍 1915/14617
Condition	Divorced	Divorced
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland Cambridge
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	5049
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1915
Officiating Minister	A.D. Bennett Registrar of Marriages

15 16

16 July 1915

Frederick Discombe
Gertrude Harriet Logan

Frederick Discombe
Gertrude Harriet Logan
💍 1915/2912

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
21

Hautapu
Otahuhu

2 years
5 "

Methodist Church Otahuhu

4944

16 July 1915

J. E. Parsons Methodist

No	15 16
Date of Notice	16 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Discombe	Gertrude Harriet Logan
	💍 1915/2912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Hautapu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	2 years	5 "
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Otahuhu
Folio	4944
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1915
Officiating Minister	J. E. Parsons Methodist

17v

19 July 1915

Lovenby Wedon
Mary Fleming

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Chef

30
35

Cambridge
Cambridge

4 months
5 "

Registrar's Office Cambridge

8524

19 July 1915

A.D. Bennett Registrar Marriages

No	17v
Date of Notice	19 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lovenby Wedon	Mary Fleming
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Chef
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	4 months	5 "
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Cambridge
Folio	8524
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1915
Officiating Minister	A.D. Bennett Registrar Marriages

3 August 1915

Rupert George Osman
Claudia Annie Rawlings

Rupert George Osman
Claudia Annie Rawlings
💍 1915/3046

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

42
21

Birkenhead
Brentwood

4 days
4 months

Church of England Cambridge

5055

3rd August 1915

L. Mortimer Jones Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	3 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert George Osman	Claudia Annie Rawlings
	💍 1915/3046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	42	21
Dwelling Place	Birkenhead	Brentwood
Length of Residence	4 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Cambridge
Folio	5055
Consent
Date of Certificate	3rd August 1915
Officiating Minister	L. Mortimer Jones 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 1908. 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).