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 463

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar H. S. Hill

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

125

5 August 1915

Harry Simmond Hoane
Edna Carrie Tunnnicliff

Harry Simmond Loane
Edna Daisy Tunnicliff
💍 1915/14625

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
19

Matawai Gisborne
Matawai

18 months
2 1/2 years

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

5100

5 August 1915

Rev Geo W. W. Watson Church of England Te Karaka.

No	125
Date of Notice	5 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Simmond Hoane	Edna Carrie Tunnnicliff
BDM Match (84%)	Harry Simmond Loane	Edna Daisy Tunnicliff
	💍 1915/14625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Matawai Gisborne	Matawai
Length of Residence	18 months	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	5100
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W. W. Watson Church of England Te Karaka.

126

6 August 1915

Herbert Patrick O'Rourke
Helen Borthwick

Herbert Patrick O'Rourke
Helen Borthwick
💍 1915/3001

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand.
Domestic Servant

28
23

Matawai
Matawai Poverty Bay

2 years
2 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages

5084

6 August 1915

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	126
Date of Notice	6 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Patrick O'Rourke	Helen Borthwick
	💍 1915/3001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand.	Domestic Servant
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Matawai	Matawai Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	5084
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

127

7 August 1915

George Davies
Ann Costello

George Davies
Ann Costello
💍 1915/3002

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer.
Domestic duties

36
34

Gisborne
Gisborne Poverty Bay

2 years
6 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages

5085

7 August 1915

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne.

No	127
Date of Notice	7 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Davies	Ann Costello
	💍 1915/3002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer.	Domestic duties
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	5085
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne.

128

11 August 1915

Cyril Edward Davies
Millian Gladys Fryday

Cyril Edward Davies
Lillian Gladys Fryday
💍 1915/3017

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

26
21

Tolaga Bay N.Z
Ngare N.Z.

5 days
4 days

Holy Trinity Church of England

5099

11 August 1915

Archdeacon Ho. Packe Church of England.

No	128
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Edward Davies	Millian Gladys Fryday
BDM Match (98%)	Cyril Edward Davies	Lillian Gladys Fryday
	💍 1915/3017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Tolaga Bay N.Z	Ngare N.Z.
Length of Residence	5 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England
Folio	5099
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Ho. Packe Church of England.

129

12 August 1915

Edward James Curtis
Ellie Hickey

Edward James Curtis
Ellie Hickey
💍 1915/89

Bachelor
Spinster

Trooper N.Z. Expeditionary Forces.
Domestic Servant

25
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 years
4 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church Gisborne

5074

12 August 1915

Rev Thomas Kane Catholic Minister

No	129
Date of Notice	12 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Curtis	Ellie Hickey
	💍 1915/89
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trooper N.Z. Expeditionary Forces.	Domestic Servant
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church Gisborne
Folio	5074
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Kane Catholic Minister

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).