Intentions to Marry, 1918 Albertland to Kohukohu

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840475, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 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.

1918a contains pages 1-432, covering districts from Albertland to Kohukohu

Page 029

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar W. G. Pratt

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

101

9 February 1918

Francis Frederick Jolly
Sarah Helen Cottrell

Francis Frederick Jolly
Sarah Helen Cottrell
💍 1918/987

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

42
19

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
14 years

Presbyterian Church, Avondale

426

Daniel Gabriel Cottrell, Father

9 February 1918

Rev. J. Pattison, Presbyterian

No	101
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Frederick Jolly	Sarah Helen Cottrell
	💍 1918/987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	42	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Avondale
Folio	426
Consent	Daniel Gabriel Cottrell, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Pattison, Presbyterian

102

9 February 1918

Rolf Harold Sambery
Winifred Mary Windsor

George Harold Bambery
Winifred May Windsor
💍 1918/988

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Fireman

26
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
19 years

St Benedict's Church, Auckland

427

William Charles Windsor, Father

9 February 1918

Rev. P. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	102
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rolf Harold Sambery	Winifred Mary Windsor
BDM Match (83%)	George Harold Bambery	Winifred May Windsor
	💍 1918/988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Fireman
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	St Benedict's Church, Auckland
Folio	427
Consent	William Charles Windsor, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

103

11 February 1918

James Angus McCulloch
Emily Nobes

James Angus McCulloch
Emily Vokes
💍 1918/989

Bachelor
Divorced 16 Sept 1902

Stationer

48
43

Auckland
Auckland

Life
43 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

428

11 February 1918

Registrar

No	103
Date of Notice	11 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Angus McCulloch	Emily Nobes
BDM Match (91%)	James Angus McCulloch	Emily Vokes
	💍 1918/989
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 16 Sept 1902
Profession	Stationer
Age	48	43
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	Life	43 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	428
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

104

11 February 1918

Alexander John Dowden
Florence Evelyn Jessema Vercoe

Alexander John Dowden
Florence Evelyn Jessema Vercoe
💍 1918/990

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
19

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Pitt Street, Auckland

429

John Vercoe, Father

11 February 1918

Rev. C. H. Laws, Methodist

No	104
Date of Notice	11 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Dowden	Florence Evelyn Jessema Vercoe
	💍 1918/990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street, Auckland
Folio	429
Consent	John Vercoe, Father
Date of Certificate	11 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Laws, Methodist

105

11 February 1918

William Victor Harding
Eleanor Jane Fuller

William Victor Hardwick
Eleanor Jane Fuller
💍 1918/991

William Jackson Huddlestone
Emily Jane Fuller
💍 1918/3960

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot and Shoe Importer

29
33

Auckland
Auckland, Ponsonby

3 1/2 years
5 months

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

430

11 February 1918

Archdeacon Calder, Anglican

No	105
Date of Notice	11 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Victor Harding	Eleanor Jane Fuller
BDM Match (94%)	William Victor Hardwick	Eleanor Jane Fuller
	💍 1918/991
BDM Match (60%)	William Jackson Huddlestone	Emily Jane Fuller
	💍 1918/3960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot and Shoe Importer
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland, Ponsonby
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	5 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	430
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Calder, Anglican

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).