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 347

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar H. G. Hill

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

4 January 1916

William Douglas Bell (Junior)
Eileen Marie Gordon

William Douglas Bell
Eileen Marie Gordon
💍 1916/5335

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

21
20

Ormond Gisborne
Waerenga-a-hika Poverty Bay

Life
Life

Church of England Waerenga-a-hika Poverty Bay

2677

Charles Gordon (Father)

11 January 1916

Rev Edgar Ward Church of England (Waerenga-a-hika)

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Douglas Bell (Junior)	Eileen Marie Gordon
BDM Match (85%)	William Douglas Bell	Eileen Marie Gordon
	💍 1916/5335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Ormond Gisborne	Waerenga-a-hika Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England Waerenga-a-hika Poverty Bay
Folio	2677
Consent	Charles Gordon (Father)
Date of Certificate	11 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Edgar Ward Church of England (Waerenga-a-hika)

8 January 1916

Joseph Henham Barnes
Fanny Read

Joseph Glenham Barnes
Fanny Head
💍 1916/301

Widower
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Duties

38
28

Mangapapa Gisborne
Mangapapa Gisborne

8 years
7 1/2 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

9 January 1916

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henham Barnes	Fanny Read
BDM Match (90%)	Joseph Glenham Barnes	Fanny Head
	💍 1916/301
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Mangapapa Gisborne	Mangapapa Gisborne
Length of Residence	8 years	7 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	40
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

8 January 1916

John Francis Bothamley
Isabella Hanna

John Francis Bothamley
Isabella Hanna
💍 1916/302

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

21
18

Whataupoko Poverty Bay
Gisborne

4 years
4 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

Thomas Wells Hanna (Father)

8 January 1916

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	3
Date of Notice	8 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Bothamley	Isabella Hanna
	💍 1916/302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Whataupoko Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	41
Consent	Thomas Wells Hanna (Father)
Date of Certificate	8 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

11 January 1916

Elijah Walter Bailey
May Beange

Elijah Walter Dailey
May Beange
💍 1916/303

Bachelor
Divorced

Farm Labourer
Housekeeper

38
33

Manutuke Gisborne
Manutuke Gisborne

18 months
18 months

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

11 January 1916

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	4
Date of Notice	11 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elijah Walter Bailey	May Beange
BDM Match (98%)	Elijah Walter Dailey	May Beange
	💍 1916/303
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Farm Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Manutuke Gisborne	Manutuke Gisborne
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	42
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

10 January 1916

Percy William Cass
Evelyn Constance Akroyd

Percy William Bass
Evelyn Constance Akroyd
💍 1916/3148

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Sergeant Major Headquarter Staff New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Domestic Duties

27
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 days
Life

Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne

10 January 1916

Rev Archdeacon Horace Packe Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Cass	Evelyn Constance Akroyd
BDM Match (97%)	Percy William Bass	Evelyn Constance Akroyd
	💍 1916/3148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Sergeant Major Headquarter Staff New Zealand Expeditionary Force	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 days	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne
Folio	91
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Archdeacon Horace Packe Church of England

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).