Intentions to Marry, 1917 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840471, 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.

1917c contains pages 862-1282, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 1035

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

3 April 1917

George Duncan Reid Cameron
Gwendoline Edwards

George Duncan Reid Cameron
Gwendoline Edwards
💍 1917/3367

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Clerk

29
24

Napier
Napier

4 years
24 years

Residence of H. D. Cobb, Hamilton

2526

3 April 1917

Rev. J. J. Wallis, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	3 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Duncan Reid Cameron	Gwendoline Edwards
	💍 1917/3367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Clerk
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. D. Cobb, Hamilton
Folio	2526
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Wallis, Methodist

4 April 1917

Ernest Balfour
Katie Beck

Ernest Balfour
Katie Beck
💍 1917/3519

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Ladies Companion

36
27

Napier
Napier

36 years
4 years

Residence of Mrs. Balfour, Bay View Road, Napier

2753

4 April 1917

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Balfour	Katie Beck
	💍 1917/3519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Ladies Companion
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	36 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Balfour, Bay View Road, Napier
Folio	2753
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

5 April 1917

Frederick William Orley
Emma Mary Williams

Frederick William Orley
Emma Mary Williams
💍 1917/3516

Bachelor
Widow 18th January 1914

Wharf Labourer
Domestic Duties

42
42

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

4 months
5 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

2760

5 April 1917

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	5 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Orley	Emma Mary Williams
	💍 1917/3516
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 18th January 1914
Profession	Wharf Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	42
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	4 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	2760
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1917
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

5 April 1917

Ernest James Collins
Gwendolene Edith Dunning

Ernest James Collins
Gwendoline Edith Dunning
💍 1917/3517

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
20

Napier
Napier

3 days
7 days

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

2761

Walter Dunning, Father

5 April 1917

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	5 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest James Collins	Gwendolene Edith Dunning
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest James Collins	Gwendoline Edith Dunning
	💍 1917/3517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	2761
Consent	Walter Dunning, Father
Date of Certificate	5 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

10 April 1917

Charles Gomer Jenkins
Juliet Rachel Pawson

Charles Gomer Jenkins
Juliet Rachel Pawson
💍 1917/3518

Bachelor
Widow 16th July 1903

Soldier (late Teacher)
Housekeeper

31
56

Napier
Napier

4 days
4 days

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

2762

10 April 1917

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	10 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gomer Jenkins	Juliet Rachel Pawson
	💍 1917/3518
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 16th July 1903
Profession	Soldier (late Teacher)	Housekeeper
Age	31	56
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	2762
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

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).