Intentions to Marry, 1920 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840489, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920b contains pages 471-938, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 531

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar H. E. 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

23 March 1920

Henry Hamilton Wilson
Jessie Agnes Johnston

Henry Hamilton Wilson
Jessie Agnes Johnston
💍 1920/2046

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute December 13th 1913)

Barman
Barmaid

40
38

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 years
5 months

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

931

23 March 1920

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	41
Date of Notice	23 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hamilton Wilson	Jessie Agnes Johnston
	💍 1920/2046
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute December 13th 1913)
Profession	Barman	Barmaid
Age	40	38
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 years	5 months
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	931
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

25 March 1920

Alfred William Cordon
Clara Maria Cutler

Alfred William Cordon
Clara Maria Cutler
💍 1920/2047

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic duties

32
31

Ormond
Ormond

10 years
4 years

Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne

932

25 March 1920

Rev. Horace Packe, Anglican

No	42
Date of Notice	25 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Cordon	Clara Maria Cutler
	💍 1920/2047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Ormond	Ormond
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne
Folio	932
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Anglican

26 March 1920

Gerard Michael O'Malley
Annie Carson-Kirkpatrick

Gerard Micheal O'Malley
Annie Carson Kirkpatrick
💍 1920/814

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Stenographer

26
23

Gisborne
Dunedin

1 year
17 years

St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin

4499

26 March 1920

Rev Father Kavanagh, Catholic Minister, Dunedin

No	43
Date of Notice	26 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerard Michael O'Malley	Annie Carson-Kirkpatrick
BDM Match (94%)	Gerard Micheal O'Malley	Annie Carson Kirkpatrick
	💍 1920/814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Stenographer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	17 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	4499
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Kavanagh, Catholic Minister, Dunedin

26 March 1920

Charles Philip White
Lillian Maud Walker

Charles Philip White
Lillian Maude Walker
💍 1920/2048

Divorced (Decree absolute 23 March 1920)
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

35
23

Matawai
Gisborne

Life
9 months

The residence of Mr James McCoy, 70 Crawford Road, Gisborne

933

26 March 1920

Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	26 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Philip White	Lillian Maud Walker
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Philip White	Lillian Maude Walker
	💍 1920/2048
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 23 March 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Matawai	Gisborne
Length of Residence	Life	9 months
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr James McCoy, 70 Crawford Road, Gisborne
Folio	933
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian

29 March 1920

Henry Third
Florence Gertrude Basham

Henry Third
Florence Gertrude Barham
💍 1920/2049

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

31
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

20 years
7 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

934

29 March 1920

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	45
Date of Notice	29 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Third	Florence Gertrude Basham
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Third	Florence Gertrude Barham
	💍 1920/2049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	20 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	934
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1920
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).