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 1250

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

21 January 1919

James Milton Archer
Hilda Sorrell

James Milton Archer
Hilda Sorrell
💍 1919/1181

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Saleswoman

26
26

Napier
Napier

4 days
4 days

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1161

21 January 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	21 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Milton Archer	Hilda Sorrell
	💍 1919/1181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Saleswoman
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1161
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

21 January 1919

Walter Henry McQuilkin
Louisa Blowes

Walter Henry McQuilkin
Louisa Blowes
💍 1919/1182

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Duties

25
22

Clive
Clive

3 days
3 days

St. Mark's Church, Clive

1162

21 January 1919

Rev. F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	21 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry McQuilkin	Louisa Blowes
	💍 1919/1182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Clive
Folio	1162
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

23 January 1919

Alfred Lawson Heale
Gladys Roulston

Alfred Lawson Heale
Gladys Roulston
💍 1919/1208

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Domestic Duties

33
29

Poraite
Poraite

3 months
1 year

Anglican Church, Taradale

1712

23 January 1919

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	23 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Lawson Heale	Gladys Roulston
	💍 1919/1208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Poraite	Poraite
Length of Residence	3 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taradale
Folio	1712
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

3 February 1919

Alfred James Rowe
Louisa May Brock

Alfred James Rowe
Louisa May Brock
💍 1919/1183

Bachelor
Spinster

Biograph Operator
Laundress

23
21

Napier
Napier

7 years
21 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1163

3 February 1919

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	3 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Rowe	Louisa May Brock
	💍 1919/1183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Biograph Operator	Laundress
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1163
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

5 February 1919

Reginald Hedley Grice
Annie May Manning

Reginald Hedly Grice
Annie May Manning
💍 1919/1184

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Domestic Duties

24
17

Napier
Napier

12 months
10 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

1164

Ada Alphonsus Manning, Mother

5 February 1919

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	5 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Hedley Grice	Annie May Manning
BDM Match (98%)	Reginald Hedly Grice	Annie May Manning
	💍 1919/1184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Domestic Duties
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	1164
Consent	Ada Alphonsus Manning, Mother
Date of Certificate	5 February 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

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).