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 912

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar William Henry Potts

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

30 August 1915

William Robert Reddish
Lily Richards

William Robert Reddish
Lily Richards
💍 1915/3168

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

20
19

Thames
Thames

20 years
19 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street Thames

5231

Thomas Richards (Father); William G. Reddish, Father

30 August 1915

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	30 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Reddish	Lily Richards
	💍 1915/3168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street Thames
Folio	5231
Consent	Thomas Richards (Father); William G. Reddish, Father
Date of Certificate	30 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

30 August 1915

Matthew Alexander
Robina Agnes Coxhead

Matthew Alexander
Robina Agnes Coxhead
💍 1915/3167

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic duties

25
23

Thames
Thames

3 days
4 years

In the house of Mr. R. Coxhead, Parawai

5230

31 August 1915

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	30 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Alexander	Robina Agnes Coxhead
	💍 1915/3167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. R. Coxhead, Parawai
Folio	5230
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

31 August 1915

Philip Charles Dyer
Annie Mary Jamieson

Philip Charles Dyer
Annie Mary Jamieson
💍 1915/3172

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
19

Turua
Thames

4 years
1 year

Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames

5235

Edward Jamieson (Father)

31 August 1915

DN O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	31 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Charles Dyer	Annie Mary Jamieson
	💍 1915/3172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Turua	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	5235
Consent	Edward Jamieson (Father)
Date of Certificate	31 August 1915
Officiating Minister	DN O'Callaghan, Church of England

14 September 1915

Samuel James Moore
Annie Chappell

Samuel James Moore
Annie Chappell
💍 1915/3170

Bachelor
Spinster

Brick & Drain Layer
Domestic duties

28
25

Thames
Thames

5 days
25 years

In the House of Mr. J. Chappell, Clarence Street, Thames

5233

14 September 1915

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	14 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel James Moore	Annie Chappell
	💍 1915/3170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brick & Drain Layer	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. J. Chappell, Clarence Street, Thames
Folio	5233
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

16 September 1915

Herbert Bryanton
Rose Harrod

Herbert Bysantson
Rose Harrod
💍 1915/3169

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse driver
Domestic duties

26
20

Thames
Thames

3 days
7 years

Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

5232

Henry B. Harrod (Father)

17 September 1915

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	16 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Bryanton	Rose Harrod
BDM Match (91%)	Herbert Bysantson	Rose Harrod
	💍 1915/3169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse driver	Domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	5232
Consent	Henry B. Harrod (Father)
Date of Certificate	17 September 1915
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

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).