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 470

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31st December 1915 Registrar [illegible]

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

157

6 October 1915

Eric Martin Harper
Violet Robinson

Eric Martin Harper
Violet Robinson
💍 1915/6092

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk
Domestic duties

21
14

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
Life

Holy Trinity Church of England

8531

Reginald Deason Blandford Robmers (Father)

6 October 1915

Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe

No	157
Date of Notice	6 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Martin Harper	Violet Robinson
	💍 1915/6092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	21	14
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England
Folio	8531
Consent	Reginald Deason Blandford Robmers (Father)
Date of Certificate	6 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe

158

8 October 1915

Bertrand Coleman Watkins
Elizabeth Macky Maclaurin

Bertrand Coleman Watkins
Elizabeth Macky Maclaurin
💍 1915/6191

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic duties

32
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 days
23 years

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

8564

8 October 1915

Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe Church of England

No	158
Date of Notice	8 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertrand Coleman Watkins	Elizabeth Macky Maclaurin
	💍 1915/6191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	8564
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe Church of England

159

6 October 1915

Henry Barker
Stella Rebecca Stevenson

Henry Barker
Stella Rebecca Stevenson
💍 1915/6192

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic duties

22
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 months
23 years

Wesleyan Parsonage Gisborne

8565

6 October 1915

Rev. Robert Raine Wesleyan Minister

No	159
Date of Notice	6 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Barker	Stella Rebecca Stevenson
	💍 1915/6192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage Gisborne
Folio	8565
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Raine Wesleyan Minister

160

8 October 1915

Gerald Aston
Mary Arbuckle Cochrane

Gerald Aston
Mary Arbuckle Cochrane
💍 1915/6194

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Servant

24
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

27 years
23 years

Methodist Church Mangapapa Gisborne

8566

8 October 1915

Rev. Robert Raine Methodist Minister.

No	160
Date of Notice	8 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Aston	Mary Arbuckle Cochrane
	💍 1915/6194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Servant
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Mangapapa Gisborne
Folio	8566
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Raine Methodist Minister.

161

13 October 1915

Patrick Butler
Julia Ann England

Patrick Butler
Julia Ann Angland
💍 1915/6097

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer and Carrier
Domestic duties

30
21

Patutahi, Poverty Bay.
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

9 years
21 years

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church Patutahi

8536

13 October 1915

Rev. Phillip O'Malley Roman Catholic Minister

No	161
Date of Notice	13 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Butler	Julia Ann England
BDM Match (97%)	Patrick Butler	Julia Ann Angland
	💍 1915/6097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer and Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Poverty Bay.	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church Patutahi
Folio	8536
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Phillip O'Malley Roman Catholic Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).