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 059

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar H. Holyoake

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

251

22 March 1917

William Richard Shaw
Alice Mary Harris

William Richard Shaw
Alice Mary Harris
💍 1917/1199

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

32
25

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
1 year

St Aidan's Church Remuera

326

22 March 1917

Rev A Fowler Anglican

No	251
Date of Notice	22 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Shaw	Alice Mary Harris
	💍 1917/1199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Aidan's Church Remuera
Folio	326
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev A Fowler Anglican

252

23 March 1917

Charles William Crisp
Theodora Race Redfern

Charles William Ching
Theodora Grace Redfern
💍 1917/6633

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

26
26

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
2 years

Church of Christ West St Newton Auckland

327

23 March 1917

Mr P. Aldridge Church of Christ

No	252
Date of Notice	23 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Crisp	Theodora Race Redfern
BDM Match (88%)	Charles William Ching	Theodora Grace Redfern
	💍 1917/6633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ West St Newton Auckland
Folio	327
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Mr P. Aldridge Church of Christ

253

23 March 1917

John Robert Hicks
Florence Martine Olson

John Robert Hicks
Florence Martine Olson
💍 1917/6643

Divorced 9 March 1917
Spinster

Deputy Coal Mine Manager

38
23

Auckland
Auckland

5 months
5 years

Registrars Office Auckland

328

23 March 1917

Registrar

No	253
Date of Notice	23 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Hicks	Florence Martine Olson
	💍 1917/6643
Condition	Divorced 9 March 1917	Spinster
Profession	Deputy Coal Mine Manager
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Auckland
Folio	328
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

254

23 March 1917

William Allen Eyre
Louisa Elizabeth Mankey

William Allen Eyre
Louisa Elizabeth Markey
💍 1917/6650

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

39
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
5 years

St Matthew's Church Auckland

329

Maud Mankey Mother

23 March 1917

Rev W E A Calder Anglican

No	254
Date of Notice	23 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Allen Eyre	Louisa Elizabeth Mankey
BDM Match (98%)	William Allen Eyre	Louisa Elizabeth Markey
	💍 1917/6650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	39	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church Auckland
Folio	329
Consent	Maud Mankey Mother
Date of Certificate	23 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev W E A Calder Anglican

255

23 March 1917

Rolf Henry Avery
Grace Williamson

George Henry Berry
Grace Williamson
💍 1917/6651

Bachelor
Widow 27 March 1914

Horse Trainer

44
39

Auckland
Auckland

8 months
5 months

Office of Rev G R Jeffreys 24 Arcade Queen St Auckland

330

23 March 1917

Rev G R Jeffreys Presbyterian

No	255
Date of Notice	23 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rolf Henry Avery	Grace Williamson
BDM Match (78%)	George Henry Berry	Grace Williamson
	💍 1917/6651
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 27 March 1914
Profession	Horse Trainer
Age	44	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Office of Rev G R Jeffreys 24 Arcade Queen St Auckland
Folio	330
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev G R Jeffreys Presbyterian

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).