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 050

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar G. W. Jordan

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

206

21 February 1916

Bertram Bond Norlin Bennett
Ilma Mary Furnell

Bertram George Morton Bennett
Ilma May Hurrell
💍 1916/474

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Publisher

27
28

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
6 years

St Mary's Cathedral Parnell

1791

21 February 1916

Archdeacon MacMurray Anglican

No	206
Date of Notice	21 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Bond Norlin Bennett	Ilma Mary Furnell
BDM Match (77%)	Bertram George Morton Bennett	Ilma May Hurrell
	💍 1916/474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Publisher
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Cathedral Parnell
Folio	1791
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon MacMurray Anglican

207

22 February 1916

James Henry Cheshire
Lillian Elizabeth Williams

James Henry Cheshire
Lillian Elizabeth Williams
💍 1916/475

Bachelor
Divorced

Motor Mechanic

25
33

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
10 years

St James Church Auckland

1792

22 February 1916

Rev R L Walker Presbyterian

No	207
Date of Notice	22 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Cheshire	Lillian Elizabeth Williams
	💍 1916/475
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	25	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St James Church Auckland
Folio	1792
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev R L Walker Presbyterian

208

22 February 1916

Albert Edward Burgess
Sylvia Rosetta Raff

Albert Edward Burgess
Sylvia Rosetta Rogg
💍 1916/476

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Carter

21
19

Auckland
Mount Albert

13 years
life

House of Rev E P Blamires Mount Albert

1793

Albert Edward Raff Father

22 February 1916

Rev E P Blamires Methodist

No	208
Date of Notice	22 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Burgess	Sylvia Rosetta Raff
BDM Match (92%)	Albert Edward Burgess	Sylvia Rosetta Rogg
	💍 1916/476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Carter
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Albert
Length of Residence	13 years	life
Marriage Place	House of Rev E P Blamires Mount Albert
Folio	1793
Consent	Albert Edward Raff Father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev E P Blamires Methodist

209

23 February 1916

Henry Leo Maddison
Clarice Hazel Oldfield

Henry Leo Maddison
Clarice Hazel Oldfield
💍 1916/385

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

41
22

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

925

23 February 1916

Registrar

No	209
Date of Notice	23 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Leo Maddison	Clarice Hazel Oldfield
	💍 1916/385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	925
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

210

23 February 1916

John William Hill
Winifred Field Snelling

John William Hill
Winifred Field Snelling
💍 1916/4612

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
37

Auckland
Remuera

4 days
10 years

St Mark's Church Remuera

1794

23 February 1916

Rev W E Gillam Anglican

No	210
Date of Notice	23 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Hill	Winifred Field Snelling
	💍 1916/4612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Remuera
Folio	1794
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev W E Gillam 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).