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 471

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Kille

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

162

11 October 1915

Hugh Roper Blunt
Agnes Sara Gray

Hugh Roper Blunt
Agnes Sara Gray
💍 1915/6108

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer
Domestic duties

41
27

Gisborne
Wairohita, Life Poverty Bay Gisborne.

14 days
[illegible]

St Luke's Church Waerenga-a-hiku

8546

11th October Rev. Bishop 1915 William Leonard Williams

Church of England.

No	162
Date of Notice	11 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Roper Blunt	Agnes Sara Gray
	💍 1915/6108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	41	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Wairohita, Life Poverty Bay Gisborne.
Length of Residence	14 days	[illegible]
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church Waerenga-a-hiku
Folio	8546
Consent
Date of Certificate	11th October Rev. Bishop 1915 William Leonard Williams
Officiating Minister	Church of England.

163

11 October 1915

Sydney Bye
Emily Laura Hutchins

Sydney Dye
Emily Laura Hutchins
💍 1915/6134

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter
Housemaid

28
26

Motu, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

3 years
2 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

8499

11th October, Henry Ewart Hill 1915 Registrar of Marriages Gisborne.

No	163
Date of Notice	11 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Bye	Emily Laura Hutchins
BDM Match (95%)	Sydney Dye	Emily Laura Hutchins
	💍 1915/6134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter	Housemaid
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Motu, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	8499
Consent
Date of Certificate	11th October, Henry Ewart Hill 1915 Registrar of Marriages Gisborne.
Officiating Minister

164

14 October 1915

Halbert Laustone Hansen
Agatha Cochrane

Halbert Lanstone Hansen
Agatha Cochrane
💍 1915/6197

Bachelor
Spinster

Cooper
Tailoress

29
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 years
10½ years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church

8569

14 October Rev. James Millar 1915 Thomson (M.A.) Presbyterian Minister

No	164
Date of Notice	14 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Halbert Laustone Hansen	Agatha Cochrane
BDM Match (98%)	Halbert Lanstone Hansen	Agatha Cochrane
	💍 1915/6197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cooper	Tailoress
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	10½ years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Folio	8569
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October Rev. James Millar 1915 Thomson (M.A.) Presbyterian Minister
Officiating Minister

165

18 October 1915

George Duncan
Ellen Haugh

George Duncan
Ellen Waugh
💍 1915/6135

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Guard
Domestic duties

31
31

Matawai, Poverty Bay
Matawai, Poverty Bay

7 days
7 days

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

8500

18th October Henry Ewart Hill 1915 Registrar of Marriages Gisborne.

No	165
Date of Notice	18 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Duncan	Ellen Haugh
BDM Match (95%)	George Duncan	Ellen Waugh
	💍 1915/6135
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard	Domestic duties
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Matawai, Poverty Bay	Matawai, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	8500
Consent
Date of Certificate	18th October Henry Ewart Hill 1915 Registrar of Marriages Gisborne.
Officiating Minister

166

18 October 1915

Frederick Bignell
Jessie Isobel Scrimgeour

Frederich Bignell
Jessie Isabel Scrimgeour
💍 1915/6198

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

23
18

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 year
10 years

Church of England, Te Karaka

8570

John Graham Scrimgeour Father

18th October Rev. George Norman. 1915 Nelham Watson Church of England

No	166
Date of Notice	18 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Bignell	Jessie Isobel Scrimgeour
BDM Match (95%)	Frederich Bignell	Jessie Isabel Scrimgeour
	💍 1915/6198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Karaka
Folio	8570
Consent	John Graham Scrimgeour Father
Date of Certificate	18th October Rev. George Norman. 1915 Nelham Watson Church of England
Officiating 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).