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 184

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar E. W. Cave

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

751

6 July 1916

Herbert Edward Downs
Mildred Annie Jones

Herbert Edward Downs
Mildred Annie Jones
💍 1916/7319

Bachelor
Spinster

Cable Joiner

26
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
11 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

4934

Edward Jones Father

6 July 1916

Registrar

No	751
Date of Notice	6 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edward Downs	Mildred Annie Jones
	💍 1916/7319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cable Joiner
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	4934
Consent	Edward Jones Father
Date of Certificate	6 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

752

6 July 1916

David Ponser Mitchell
Hazel Hinemoa Wynyard

David Couser Mitchell
Hazel Hinemoa Wynyard
💍 1916/7296

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

25
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
life

Anglican Church Papakura

4935

6 July 1916

Rev W. P. Monckton, Anglican

No	752
Date of Notice	6 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ponser Mitchell	Hazel Hinemoa Wynyard
BDM Match (95%)	David Couser Mitchell	Hazel Hinemoa Wynyard
	💍 1916/7296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Papakura
Folio	4935
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev W. P. Monckton, Anglican

753

6 July 1916

Lawrence Humphries Hosking
Ida Rena Margaret White

Lawrence Humphries Hosking
Ida Lena Margaret White
💍 1916/7297

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

29
22

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
21 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

4936

6 July 1916

Registrar

No	753
Date of Notice	6 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Humphries Hosking	Ida Rena Margaret White
BDM Match (98%)	Lawrence Humphries Hosking	Ida Lena Margaret White
	💍 1916/7297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	4936
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

754

7 July 1916

Thomas Montgomery Davie
Kathleen Josephine Sheppard

Thomas Montgomery Davies
Kathleen Josephine Sheppard
💍 1916/7298

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
20

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
20 years

House of Mrs G. Price, 106 Manukau Road Parnell

4937

Expt Dec 29

21 July 1916

Rev R. Inglis, Presbyterian

No	754
Date of Notice	7 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Montgomery Davie	Kathleen Josephine Sheppard
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Montgomery Davies	Kathleen Josephine Sheppard
	💍 1916/7298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs G. Price, 106 Manukau Road Parnell
Folio	4937
Consent	Expt Dec 29
Date of Certificate	21 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Inglis, Presbyterian

755

7 July 1916

James Allan
Elizabeth Lauretta Annie Brown

James Allan
Elizabeth Lauretta Annie Brown
💍 1916/7299

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

32
24

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
8 years

St Columba Church Grey Lynn

4938

7 July 1916

Rev P. S. Smallfield, Anglican

No	755
Date of Notice	7 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Allan	Elizabeth Lauretta Annie Brown
	💍 1916/7299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Columba Church Grey Lynn
Folio	4938
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev P. S. Smallfield, 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).