Intentions to Marry, 1917 Albertland to Hamilton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840469, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917a contains pages 1-356, covering districts from Albertland to Hamilton

Page 053

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar A. W. Pyall

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

221

14 March 1917

Robert Mitchell
Sarah Annie Bolt

Robert Mitchell
Sarah Annie Bolt
💍 1917/956

Bachelor
Widow (13 September 1910)

Mill hand

32
31

Auckland
Auckland

7 days
Life

St David's Church, Auckland

301

14 March 1917

Rev J. M. Saunders, Presbyterian

No	221
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Mitchell	Sarah Annie Bolt
	💍 1917/956
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (13 September 1910)
Profession	Mill hand
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 days	Life
Marriage Place	St David's Church, Auckland
Folio	301
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. Saunders, Presbyterian

222

14 March 1917

Francis Livingston
Gladys Winnie Cole

Francis Skirington
Gladys Winnie Cole
💍 1917/1182

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

20
19

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
Life

St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

302

William Livingston Father; John Cole Father

14 March 1917

Rev J. Taylor, Roman Catholic

No	222
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Livingston	Gladys Winnie Cole
BDM Match (89%)	Francis Skirington	Gladys Winnie Cole
	💍 1917/1182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	302
Consent	William Livingston Father; John Cole Father
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Taylor, Roman Catholic

223

14 March 1917

Percy Batten
Harriet Hilda Spence

Percy Battery
Harriett Hilda Spence
💍 1917/1193

Bachelor
Spinster

Clergyman

30
27

Auckland
Mt Eden

2 weeks
1 year

Methodist Church, Mt Eden

303

14 March 1917

Rev C. H. Harland, Methodist

No	223
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Batten	Harriet Hilda Spence
BDM Match (90%)	Percy Battery	Harriett Hilda Spence
	💍 1917/1193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mt Eden
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Mt Eden
Folio	303
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev C. H. Harland, Methodist

224

14 March 1917

Albert George Bolton
Annie Katherine Ring

Albert George Bolton
Annie Catherine Ring
💍 1917/2452

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
20

Auckland
Auckland

1 week
1 week

St Matthew's Church, Auckland

1671

Francis Ring Father

14 March 1917

Rev J. R. P. Gilfillan, Anglican

No	224
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Bolton	Annie Katherine Ring
BDM Match (98%)	Albert George Bolton	Annie Catherine Ring
	💍 1917/2452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	1671
Consent	Francis Ring Father
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. P. Gilfillan, Anglican

225

14 March 1917

Percy Herbert Brunning
Hannah Barrowman

Percy Herbert Bruning
Hannah Barrowman
💍 1917/1200

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

30
26

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
3 years

Methodist Church, Dominion Rd, Mt Eden

304

14 March 1917

Rev P. R. Paris, Methodist

No	225
Date of Notice	14 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Herbert Brunning	Hannah Barrowman
BDM Match (98%)	Percy Herbert Bruning	Hannah Barrowman
	💍 1917/1200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Dominion Rd, Mt Eden
Folio	304
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev P. R. Paris, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).