Intentions to Marry, 1915 Helensville to Whangaroa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840458, 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.

1915b contains pages 519-1020, covering districts from Helensville to Whangaroa

Page 539

District of Hikurangi Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar A. Wallace

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 August 1915

Alexander Kidd Bain
Elizabeth Kergan Stewart

Alexander Kidd Bain
Elizabeth Kergan Stewart
💍 1915/3204

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter-maker
School teacher

32
31

Hikurangi
Lepperton, Waitara

12 months
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Waitara

5392

10 August 1915

Rev. W. Dunlop, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	10 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kidd Bain	Elizabeth Kergan Stewart
	💍 1915/3204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter-maker	School teacher
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Hikurangi	Lepperton, Waitara
Length of Residence	12 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waitara
Folio	5392
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Dunlop, Presbyterian

14 August 1915

Arnold Simpson Yates
Elizabeth Arnold

Arnold Simpson Yates
Elizabeth Arnold
💍 1915/2970

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Waitress

23
24

Kamo
Towai

3 years
3 years

Anglican Church, Towai

5130

14 August 1915

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	14 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Simpson Yates	Elizabeth Arnold
	💍 1915/2970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Waitress
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Towai
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Towai
Folio	5130
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Anglican

14 September 1915

William Martin
Georgina Prudhoe

William Martin
Georgina Prudhoe
💍 1915/2969

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
21

Whakapara
Helena Bay

23 years
4 weeks

Residence of Mr. B. Leclerc, Helena Bay

5129

14 September 1915

Rev. W. H. Holloway, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	14 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Martin	Georgina Prudhoe
	💍 1915/2969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Whakapara	Helena Bay
Length of Residence	23 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. B. Leclerc, Helena Bay
Folio	5129
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Holloway, Presbyterian

14 September 1915

Joseph Darley
Maude Annabella Mitchell McInnes

Joseph Darley
Maud Annabella Mitchell McInnes
💍 1915/2968

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
19

Whananaki
Marua

18 months
18 years

Residence of Mr. Malcolm McPhee, Marua

5128

Memo Regr 3/11/15 - No person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent

14 September 1915

Rev. W. H. Holloway, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	14 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Darley	Maude Annabella Mitchell McInnes
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Darley	Maud Annabella Mitchell McInnes
	💍 1915/2968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Whananaki	Marua
Length of Residence	18 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Malcolm McPhee, Marua
Folio	5128
Consent	Memo Regr 3/11/15 - No person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Holloway, Presbyterian

28 September 1915

Percy Arthur Smith
Ivy Gwendoline Broomfield

Percy Arthur Smith
Ivy Gwendoline Broomfield
💍 1915/2961

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman Railways
Domestic

24
20

Hukerenui
Hukerenui

3 years
20 years

Residence of Bride's Parents, Hukerenui

5127

John Broomfield, Father

28 September 1915

Rev. W. E. Connolly, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	28 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Arthur Smith	Ivy Gwendoline Broomfield
	💍 1915/2961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman Railways	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Hukerenui	Hukerenui
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents, Hukerenui
Folio	5127
Consent	John Broomfield, Father
Date of Certificate	28 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Connolly, Anglican

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).