Intentions to Marry, 1919 Albertland to Helensville

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840481, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919a contains pages 1-500, covering districts from Albertland to Helensville

Page 439

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar Geo. Hill

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 October 1919

Albert Victor Singe
Isabel Agnew

Albert Victor Singe
Isabel Agnew
💍 1919/4598

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor & Carter
Shop Assistant

27
26

Matawhero
Matawhero

4 days
3 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

8161

3 October 1919

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	96
Date of Notice	3 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Victor Singe	Isabel Agnew
	💍 1919/4598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor & Carter	Shop Assistant
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Matawhero	Matawhero
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	8161
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

6 October 1919

Albert Hector McLeod
Susan Callendar Jackson Black

Albert Hector McLeod
Susan Callendar Jackson Black
💍 1919/4599

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Home duties

28
31

Patutahi Gisborne
Gisborne

Life
12 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

8162

6 October 1919

Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

No	97
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Hector McLeod	Susan Callendar Jackson Black
	💍 1919/4599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Home duties
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Patutahi Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	8162
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

6 October 1919

Edward Harrison Rainford
Irene Lavinia Hill

Edward Harrison Lawford
Irene Lavinia Hill
💍 1919/4600

Widower April 1917
Spinster

Bank Manager
Accountant

49
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 months
3 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

8163

6 October 1919

Rev George Packe, Church of England

No	98
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Harrison Rainford	Irene Lavinia Hill
BDM Match (94%)	Edward Harrison Lawford	Irene Lavinia Hill
	💍 1919/4600
Condition	Widower April 1917	Spinster
Profession	Bank Manager	Accountant
Age	49	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	8163
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev George Packe, Church of England

6 October 1919

Bertram Frederick Neal
Frances Edith Costello

Bertram Frederick Neal
Frances Edith Costello
💍 1919/4601

Bachelor
Widow 18-7-16

Carrier Returned Soldier
Home duties

33
34

Matawai
Matawai

14 years
2 years

office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

8164

6 October 1919

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	99
Date of Notice	6 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Frederick Neal	Frances Edith Costello
	💍 1919/4601
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 18-7-16
Profession	Carrier Returned Soldier	Home duties
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Matawai	Matawai
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	8164
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

100

10 October 1919

James Wilkinson
Fanny Blague

James Wilkinson
Fanny Clague
💍 1919/4602

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute dated 4 Oct 1919

Labourer
Home duties

32
33

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 year
2 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

8165

10 October 1919

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	100
Date of Notice	10 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wilkinson	Fanny Blague
BDM Match (96%)	James Wilkinson	Fanny Clague
	💍 1919/4602
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute dated 4 Oct 1919
Profession	Labourer	Home duties
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	8165
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).