Intentions to Marry, 1919 Whakatane to Mangaweka

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840483, 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.

1919c contains pages 1005-1502, covering districts from Whakatane to Mangaweka

Page 1249

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1919 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

6 January 1919

George Perkins
Charlotte Jane Hughes

George Perkins
Charlotte Jane Hughes
💍 1919/1200

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

25
18

Port Ahuriri
Napier

7 years
11 years

St. Johns cathedral Napier

1156

John Edward Hughes, Father

6 January 1919

Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Perkins	Charlotte Jane Hughes
	💍 1919/1200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns cathedral Napier
Folio	1156
Consent	John Edward Hughes, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

8 January 1919

Thomas Brabson Laimbeer
Nella Fearn

Thomas Brabon Laimbeer
Nella Dorothy Fearn
💍 1919/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

29
22

Puketapu
Puketapu

1 year
22 years

St. Augustines church Napier

1157

8 January 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Brabson Laimbeer	Nella Fearn
BDM Match (77%)	Thomas Brabon Laimbeer	Nella Dorothy Fearn
	💍 1919/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Puketapu	Puketapu
Length of Residence	1 year	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines church Napier
Folio	1157
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

11 January 1919

Dougald John Riggir
Edith Eunice McLennan

Dougald John Rigger
Edith Eunice McLennan
💍 1919/1202

Widower
Widow

Sheep farmer
School Teacher

37
36

Maraetotara
Napier

9 years
3 days

Residence of Mrs. J. Hutchinson Napier

1158

11 January 1919

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	11 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dougald John Riggir	Edith Eunice McLennan
BDM Match (97%)	Dougald John Rigger	Edith Eunice McLennan
	💍 1919/1202
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Sheep farmer	School Teacher
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Maraetotara	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. J. Hutchinson Napier
Folio	1158
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

16 January 1919

Edward Bridges
Eliza Jane Dunbar

Edward Bridges
Eliza Jane Dunbar
💍 1919/1179

Widower
Widow

Cook
Domestic

54
53

Napier
Napier

11 years
44 years

Registrars Office Napier

1159

16 January 1919

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	16 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bridges	Eliza Jane Dunbar
	💍 1919/1179
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Cook	Domestic
Age	54	53
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	11 years	44 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Napier
Folio	1159
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

17 January 1919

Harry John England
Gladys Leach

Harry John England
Gladys Leach
💍 1919/1180

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Domestic

24
21

Napier
Napier

3 months
7 years

Residence of Mrs. Prentice Georges Drive Napier

1160

17 January 1919

Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry John England	Gladys Leach
	💍 1919/1180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Prentice Georges Drive Napier
Folio	1160
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Richards, Methodist

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).