Intentions to Marry, 1916 Albertland to Hamilton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840463, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 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.

1916a contains pages 1-418, covering districts from Albertland to Hamilton

Page 235

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar D. W. Evans

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

1186

25 November 1916

Ernest Palmer
Alice Agnes Elizabeth Nelson

Ernest Palmer
Alice Agnes Elizabeth Nelson
💍 1916/858

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

31
29

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
3 months

Registrar's office Auckland

6801

25 November 1916

Registrar

No	1186
Date of Notice	25 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Palmer	Alice Agnes Elizabeth Nelson
	💍 1916/858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Auckland
Folio	6801
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1187

27 November 1916

Charles Edward Hoare
Margaret Gwendoline Lowrie

Charles Edward Hoare
Margaret Gwendoline Lowrie
💍 1916/768

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

House of Mrs J. O'Horman 36 Newton Rd. Auckland

6802

Robert Lowrie Father

27 November 1916

Rev. J. H. Kempton Baptist

No	1187
Date of Notice	27 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Hoare	Margaret Gwendoline Lowrie
	💍 1916/768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mrs J. O'Horman 36 Newton Rd. Auckland
Folio	6802
Consent	Robert Lowrie Father
Date of Certificate	27 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Kempton Baptist

1188

27 November 1916

Walter James Bruning
Elizabeth Ellen Carpenter

Walter James Brunning
Elizabeth Eelen Carpenter
💍 1916/1064

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit grader and packer

26
20

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
1 year

Home of Bridegroom Williamson avenue Ponsonby

7663

Edwin David Carpenter Father

27 November 1916

Rev. H. Elliott Baptist

No	1188
Date of Notice	27 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Bruning	Elizabeth Ellen Carpenter
BDM Match (96%)	Walter James Brunning	Elizabeth Eelen Carpenter
	💍 1916/1064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit grader and packer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Home of Bridegroom Williamson avenue Ponsonby
Folio	7663
Consent	Edwin David Carpenter Father
Date of Certificate	27 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Elliott Baptist

1189

27 November 1916

Leslie Walter Kain
Winifred Hope Hooker

Leslie Walters Nairn
Winifred Hope Hooker
💍 1916/779

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron machinist

24
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
2 years

Church of the Holy Sepulchre Auckland

6803

Amy Florence Thompson formerly Hooker Mother

27 November 1916

Rev. R. Richards Anglican

No	1189
Date of Notice	27 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Walter Kain	Winifred Hope Hooker
BDM Match (93%)	Leslie Walters Nairn	Winifred Hope Hooker
	💍 1916/779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron machinist
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Sepulchre Auckland
Folio	6803
Consent	Amy Florence Thompson formerly Hooker Mother
Date of Certificate	27 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Richards Anglican

1190

27 November 1916

Alfred Edward Broad
Mary Binns

Alfred Edward Broad
Mary Cairns
💍 1916/786

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

36
33

Auckland
Auckland

9 months
life

Anglican Church Ranfurly Rd One Tree Hill

6804

27 November 1916

Rev. W. E. Connolly Anglican

No	1190
Date of Notice	27 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Broad	Mary Binns
BDM Match (86%)	Alfred Edward Broad	Mary Cairns
	💍 1916/786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 months	life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Ranfurly Rd One Tree Hill
Folio	6804
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Connolly Anglican

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).