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 141

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1917 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

646

21 July 1917

Samuel Ernest Bray
Hannah Matilda Pilkington

Samuel Ernest Gray
Hannah Matilda Pilkington
💍 1917/4579

Bachelor
Divorced 21 July 1917

Soldier

27
26

Auckland
Auckland

10 days
6 months

Office of Rev D. R. Jeffreys, 10 H.M. Arcade, Auckland

3930

21 July 1917

Rev D. R. Jeffreys, Presbyterian

No	646
Date of Notice	21 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Ernest Bray	Hannah Matilda Pilkington
BDM Match (97%)	Samuel Ernest Gray	Hannah Matilda Pilkington
	💍 1917/4579
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 21 July 1917
Profession	Soldier
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of Rev D. R. Jeffreys, 10 H.M. Arcade, Auckland
Folio	3930
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev D. R. Jeffreys, Presbyterian

647

23 July 1917

John Thompson Range
Anne Jane Blandford

John Thompson Large
Annie Jane Blandford
💍 1917/4580

Widower 26 September 1915
Widow 10 December 1899

Retired Government Officer

71
50

Auckland
Auckland

14 months
3/4 months

"Cargen" Private Hotel, Eden Crescent, Auckland

3931

23 July 1917

Rev W. E. Williams, Unitarian

No	647
Date of Notice	23 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thompson Range	Anne Jane Blandford
BDM Match (92%)	John Thompson Large	Annie Jane Blandford
	💍 1917/4580
Condition	Widower 26 September 1915	Widow 10 December 1899
Profession	Retired Government Officer
Age	71	50
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 months	3/4 months
Marriage Place	"Cargen" Private Hotel, Eden Crescent, Auckland
Folio	3931
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev W. E. Williams, Unitarian

648

23 July 1917

John William Jones
Lilian Pickering

John William Jones
Lilian Pickering
💍 1917/4754

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

30
28

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
5 years

Congregational Church, Beresford Street, Auckland

4130

23 July 1917

Rev F. Warner, Congregational

No	648
Date of Notice	23 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Jones	Lilian Pickering
	💍 1917/4754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Beresford Street, Auckland
Folio	4130
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev F. Warner, Congregational

649

23 July 1917

Cyril Gervaise Gould Long
Dorothy Gillies Gardner

Cyril Gervaise Gould Long
Dorothy Gillies Cardno
💍 1917/4581

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Surgeon

31
25

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Auckland

3932

23 July 1917

Rev P. Budd, Presbyterian

No	649
Date of Notice	23 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Gervaise Gould Long	Dorothy Gillies Gardner
BDM Match (94%)	Cyril Gervaise Gould Long	Dorothy Gillies Cardno
	💍 1917/4581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Auckland
Folio	3932
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev P. Budd, Presbyterian

650

24 July 1917

Joseph James Curry
Mary Ann Spence

Joseph James Curry
Mary Ann Spence
💍 1917/4582

Bachelor
Divorced 22 June 1917

Farmer

30
35

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Auckland

3933

24 July 1917

Registrar

No	650
Date of Notice	24 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph James Curry	Mary Ann Spence
	💍 1917/4582
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 22 June 1917
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	3933
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).