Intentions to Marry, 1921 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840497, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921b contains pages 433-884, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 481

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar H. G. 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

5 January 1921

Matthew Williams
Winifred Chaplin

Matthew Williams
Winifred Chaplin
💍 1921/8977

Bachelor
Spinster

Fencer, Returned Soldier
Domestic Duties

25
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 weeks
4 weeks

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1559

5 January 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Williams	Winifred Chaplin
	💍 1921/8977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fencer, Returned Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	1559
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

8 January 1921

Herbert Thomas Reynolds
Alexandra May Simpson

Herbert Thomas Reynolds
Alexandra May Simpson
💍 1921/8978

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Home Duties

26
17

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 year
5 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1560

Alice Simpson (Mother)

8 January 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Thomas Reynolds	Alexandra May Simpson
	💍 1921/8978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Home Duties
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	1560
Consent	Alice Simpson (Mother)
Date of Certificate	8 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

8 January 1921

James Roger
Violet Ruth Gray

James Roger
Violet Ruth Long
💍 1921/8979

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat Inspector
Saleswoman

31
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
10 years

Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne

1561

8 January 1921

Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	8 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Roger	Violet Ruth Gray
BDM Match (88%)	James Roger	Violet Ruth Long
	💍 1921/8979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat Inspector	Saleswoman
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne
Folio	1561
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

11 January 1921

Robert John Grant Walsh
Hilda Mary Sullivan

Robert John Grant Walsh
Hilda Mary Sullivan
💍 1921/8980

Widower, 21 December 1914
Widow, 10 January 1913

Hairdresser
Home Duties

40
38

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 months
8 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1562

11 January 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	4
Date of Notice	11 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Grant Walsh	Hilda Mary Sullivan
	💍 1921/8980
Condition	Widower, 21 December 1914	Widow, 10 January 1913
Profession	Hairdresser	Home Duties
Age	40	38
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 months	8 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	1562
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

13 January 1921

Robert Roland Kidson
Madge Victoria McKillop

Robert Roland Kidson
Madge Victoria McKillop
💍 1921/8981

Widower, 14 May 1918
Divorced, 13 April 1913, Vancouver

Road Agent
Housekeeper

39
28

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 years
9 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1563

13 January 1921

The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	5
Date of Notice	13 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Roland Kidson	Madge Victoria McKillop
	💍 1921/8981
Condition	Widower, 14 May 1918	Divorced, 13 April 1913, Vancouver
Profession	Road Agent	Housekeeper
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 years	9 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	1563
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1921
Officiating Minister	The 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).