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 434

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar Hy. 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

27 August 1919

Nathaniel Pilcher
Mary Lillian Newnham

Nathaniel Pilcher
Mary Lilian Newnham
💍 1919/5965

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

28
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

17 years
3 months

Registrar's Office, Gisborne

5367

27 August 1919

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	79
Date of Notice	27 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathaniel Pilcher	Mary Lillian Newnham
BDM Match (98%)	Nathaniel Pilcher	Mary Lilian Newnham
	💍 1919/5965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	17 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Gisborne
Folio	5367
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

29 August 1919

John Alexander Batey
Mary Violet Sherwood

John Alexander Baty
Mary Violet Sherwood
💍 1919/5966

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
House Duties

29
27

Manutuke
Manutuke

Life
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Manutuke, Poverty Bay

5368

29 August 1919

Rev. Charles Murray, Presbyterian Minister

No	80
Date of Notice	29 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Batey	Mary Violet Sherwood
BDM Match (98%)	John Alexander Baty	Mary Violet Sherwood
	💍 1919/5966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	House Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Manutuke	Manutuke
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Manutuke, Poverty Bay
Folio	5368
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles Murray, Presbyterian Minister

1 September 1919

George Harvey Cust
Catherine Freeth

George Harvey Cust
Catherine Freeth
💍 1919/5967

Widower 31/3/19
Widow 12/11/18

Labourer
Music Teacher

40
29

Gisborne
Gisborne

18 years
10 years

St. Paul's Church of England, Kaiti, Gisborne

5369

1 September 1919

Rev. Wm. Tanyau Poake, Church of England

No	81
Date of Notice	1 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harvey Cust	Catherine Freeth
	💍 1919/5967
Condition	Widower 31/3/19	Widow 12/11/18
Profession	Labourer	Music Teacher
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	18 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church of England, Kaiti, Gisborne
Folio	5369
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Tanyau Poake, Church of England

2 September 1919

William Leslie Coleman
Margaret Spence Hayes

William Leslie Coleman
Margaret Irene Hayes
💍 1919/5969

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

36
33

Gisborne
Gisborne

28 years
12 years

The Residence of Mr. W. B. Orman, Kaiti, Gisborne

5370

2 September 1919

Rev. Thomas Lane, Catholic Minister

No	82
Date of Notice	2 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Coleman	Margaret Spence Hayes
BDM Match (93%)	William Leslie Coleman	Margaret Irene Hayes
	💍 1919/5969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	28 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. W. B. Orman, Kaiti, Gisborne
Folio	5370
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Lane, Catholic Minister

3 September 1919

Claude Temperton
Rosina Evelyn Johnstone

Claude Temperton
Rosina Evelyn Johnston
💍 1919/5970

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Accountant
House Duties

25
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
Life

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

5371

3 September 1919

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	83
Date of Notice	3 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Temperton	Rosina Evelyn Johnstone
BDM Match (98%)	Claude Temperton	Rosina Evelyn Johnston
	💍 1919/5970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Accountant	House Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	5371
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 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).