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 377

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 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

148

21 October 1916

Eric Aden Cox
Mary Frances Aylward

Eric Aden Cox
Mary Frances Aylward
💍 1916/2347

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Marine officer
Government Clerk

26
20

Lyttelton, Canterbury
Gisborne

3 years
Life

Private residence of the Bride's Parents, 110 Whittaker Street, Whataupoko

7289

Patrick Francis Aylward (Father)

21 October 1916

Rev Thomas Crane, Catholic Minister

No	148
Date of Notice	21 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Aden Cox	Mary Frances Aylward
	💍 1916/2347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Marine officer	Government Clerk
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton, Canterbury	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Private residence of the Bride's Parents, 110 Whittaker Street, Whataupoko
Folio	7289
Consent	Patrick Francis Aylward (Father)
Date of Certificate	21 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Crane, Catholic Minister

149

23 October 1916

Frank Crocker
Dorothy Alice Hazelden

Frank Crocker
Dorothy Alice Hazelden
💍 1916/2324

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Duties

24
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

24 years
22 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne.

7290

23 October 1916

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne.

No	149
Date of Notice	23 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Crocker	Dorothy Alice Hazelden
	💍 1916/2324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne.
Folio	7290
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne.

150

24 October 1916

Graham Henry Boyd Foster
Ethel Ruby De Berri Foster

Graham Henry Boyd Foote
Ethel Ruby de Berri Foster
💍 1916/2325

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

23
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

11 years
10 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne.

7291

George Thomas Foster (Father)

24 October 1916

Rev Horace Packe, Church of England.

No	150
Date of Notice	24 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Henry Boyd Foster	Ethel Ruby De Berri Foster
BDM Match (94%)	Graham Henry Boyd Foote	Ethel Ruby de Berri Foster
	💍 1916/2325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	11 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne.
Folio	7291
Consent	George Thomas Foster (Father)
Date of Certificate	24 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe, Church of England.

151

31 October 1916

Joseph Clarence Stevens
Lucy May Kennedy

Joseph Clarence Stevens
Lucy May Kennedy
💍 1916/2326

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
24

Kaiti, Gisborne
Gisborne

1 week
2 weeks

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne.

7292

31 October 1916

Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

No	151
Date of Notice	31 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Clarence Stevens	Lucy May Kennedy
	💍 1916/2326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Kaiti, Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 week	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne.
Folio	7292
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

152

4 November 1916

Arthur Edmund Brown
Vera Evelyn Darvill

Arthur Edmund Brown
Vera Evelyn Oakenfull
💍 1916/2669

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk
Domestic Duties

32
25

Gisborne
Napier

2 months
4 days

St Augustines Church, Napier

7576

4 November 1916

Rev Eric Dudley Rice, Church of England, Napier

No	152
Date of Notice	4 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edmund Brown	Vera Evelyn Darvill
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Edmund Brown	Vera Evelyn Oakenfull
	💍 1916/2669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Napier
Length of Residence	2 months	4 days
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	7576
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Eric Dudley Rice, Church of England, Napier

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).