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 554

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar Henry Ewart 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

139

25 August 1920

Archibald Cyril Philpot
Agnes Lena Johnston

Archibald Cyril Philpot
Agnes Lena Johnston
💍 1920/7926

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

24
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

8 months
6 months

St. Mary's Church, Gisborne

7812

25 August 1920

Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic

No	139
Date of Notice	25 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Cyril Philpot	Agnes Lena Johnston
	💍 1920/7926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Gisborne
Folio	7812
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic

140

28 August 1920

William Joseph Roland
Mavis Stella Ward

William Joseph Roland
Mavis Stella Ward
💍 1920/7927

Divorced (Date of decree absolute 30/3/20)
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic duties

36
17

Gisborne
Gisborne

20 years
6 months

Methodist Parsonage, Palmerston Road, Gisborne

7813

Harriett Lundy, Mother

28 August 1920

Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist

No	140
Date of Notice	28 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Roland	Mavis Stella Ward
	💍 1920/7927
Condition	Divorced (Date of decree absolute 30/3/20)	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	36	17
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	20 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Palmerston Road, Gisborne
Folio	7813
Consent	Harriett Lundy, Mother
Date of Certificate	28 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist

141

28 August 1920

Albert Stark
Jessie Flennand Wallace

Albert Stark
Jessie Clelland Wallace
💍 1920/7928

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Home duties

24
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

15 years
6 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7814

28 August 1920

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	141
Date of Notice	28 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Stark	Jessie Flennand Wallace
BDM Match (94%)	Albert Stark	Jessie Clelland Wallace
	💍 1920/7928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Home duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	15 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	7814
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

142

31 August 1920

Vernon Winfield Higgen Linkhorn
Ingrith Alma Amelia Hindrup

Vernon Winfield Higgen Linkhorn
Ingri Alma Amelia Hindrup
💍 1920/7929

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

25
20

Waikohu, Gisborne
Waikohu, Gisborne

6 years
20 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7815

31 August 1920

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	142
Date of Notice	31 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Winfield Higgen Linkhorn	Ingrith Alma Amelia Hindrup
BDM Match (96%)	Vernon Winfield Higgen Linkhorn	Ingri Alma Amelia Hindrup
	💍 1920/7929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Waikohu, Gisborne	Waikohu, Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	7815
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

143

4 September 1920

William Stanley Theodore Albert Watters
Clara Myrtle Brown

William Stanley Theodore Albert Watters
Clara Myrtle Brown
💍 1920/7930

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Lorry Driver
Home duties

26
18

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne

7816

4 September 1920

Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist

No	143
Date of Notice	4 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stanley Theodore Albert Watters	Clara Myrtle Brown
	💍 1920/7930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Lorry Driver	Home duties
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne
Folio	7816
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, 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).