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 224

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar A. H. [illegible]

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

1241

14 December 1916

William Henry Richards
Alice Jane Bell

William Henry Richards
Alice Jane Bell
💍 1916/1831

Divorced 11 December 1916
Divorced 25 May 1916

Builder

44
32

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Methodist Parsonage, Onehunga

6850

14 December 1916

Rev. C. C. Harrison, Methodist

No	1241
Date of Notice	14 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Richards	Alice Jane Bell
	💍 1916/1831
Condition	Divorced 11 December 1916	Divorced 25 May 1916
Profession	Builder
Age	44	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Onehunga
Folio	6850
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harrison, Methodist

1242

14 December 1916

Bruno John Plotke
Caroline Perry

Bruno John Globke
Caroline Greig
💍 1916/2951

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

29
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
11 months

St Stephen's Church, Ponsonby

8163

14 December 1916

Rev. I. Jolly, Presbyterian

No	1242
Date of Notice	14 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bruno John Plotke	Caroline Perry
BDM Match (76%)	Bruno John Globke	Caroline Greig
	💍 1916/2951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	11 months
Marriage Place	St Stephen's Church, Ponsonby
Folio	8163
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Jolly, Presbyterian

1243

14 December 1916

Harold Harry Robertson Leeks
Amy Louise Reid

Harold Harry Robertson Jecks
Amy Louise Reid
💍 1917/2265

Bachelor
Spinster

Clergyman

51
33

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
11 years

St Luke's Church, Mt Albert

1428

14 December 1916

Rev. E. Fletcher, Anglican

No	1243
Date of Notice	14 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Harry Robertson Leeks	Amy Louise Reid
BDM Match (96%)	Harold Harry Robertson Jecks	Amy Louise Reid
	💍 1917/2265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman
Age	51	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	11 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Mt Albert
Folio	1428
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Fletcher, Anglican

1244

14 December 1916

Matthew Newberry
Ellen Mary Barry

Matthew Newberry
Ellen May Barry
💍 1916/2027

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
21

Auckland
Christchurch

6 months
6 years

St John the Baptist Church, Christchurch

7071

14 December 1916

Rev. P. J. Beck, Anglican

No	1244
Date of Notice	14 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Newberry	Ellen Mary Barry
BDM Match (97%)	Matthew Newberry	Ellen May Barry
	💍 1916/2027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St John the Baptist Church, Christchurch
Folio	7071
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Beck, Anglican

1245

15 December 1916

Ralph Wyman
Henrietta Winifred Hope Sheffield

Ralph Wyman
Henrietta Winifred Hope Sheffield
💍 1916/1900

Bachelor
Spinster

Army Officer

33
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
9 months

St Jude's Church, Avondale South

6919

15 December 1916

Rev. A. R. J. [illegible], Anglican

No	1245
Date of Notice	15 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Wyman	Henrietta Winifred Hope Sheffield
	💍 1916/1900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Army Officer
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St Jude's Church, Avondale South
Folio	6919
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. J. [illegible], 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).