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 508

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1921 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

126

21 July 1921

Arthur Petherbridge Junior
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice

Arthur Petherbridge
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
💍 1921/8368

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker's Labourer
Waitress

24
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

18 months
19 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

6926

James Fitzmaurice (Father)

21 July 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	126
Date of Notice	21 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Petherbridge Junior	Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
BDM Match (87%)	Arthur Petherbridge	Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
	💍 1921/8368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker's Labourer	Waitress
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	18 months	19 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	6926
Consent	James Fitzmaurice (Father)
Date of Certificate	21 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

127

20 July 1921

Christopher Goodman Hetheridge
Ethel Louisa Howard

Christopher Lethbridge Goodman
Ethel Louisa Howard
💍 1921/8379

Widower 29 September 1919
Spinster

Coal Merchant
Home Duties

62
42

Gisborne (Blenheim)
Gisborne (Palmerston North)

3 days
7 days

The residence of Mr Frederick Collin, Te Hapara, Gisborne

6927

20 July 1921

Rev Edwin Thomas Cox, Methodist Minister, Gisborne

No	127
Date of Notice	20 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Goodman Hetheridge	Ethel Louisa Howard
BDM Match (72%)	Christopher Lethbridge Goodman	Ethel Louisa Howard
	💍 1921/8379
Condition	Widower 29 September 1919	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	Home Duties
Age	62	42
Dwelling Place	Gisborne (Blenheim)	Gisborne (Palmerston North)
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr Frederick Collin, Te Hapara, Gisborne
Folio	6927
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Edwin Thomas Cox, Methodist Minister, Gisborne

128

26 July 1921

William Ransom Stuckey
Emma Heitell

William Ransom Stuckey
Emma Leutell
💍 1921/8386

Divorced Decree Absolute dated 29 June 1921
Widow 11 January 1916

Fireman
Domestic Duties

54
49

Gisborne
Gisborne

48 years
21 years

At the Private residence of the bride, 214 Whittaker Street, Gisborne

6928

26 July 1921

Rev Edwin Thomas Cox, Methodist Minister, Gisborne

No	128
Date of Notice	26 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ransom Stuckey	Emma Heitell
BDM Match (92%)	William Ransom Stuckey	Emma Leutell
	💍 1921/8386
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute dated 29 June 1921	Widow 11 January 1916
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	54	49
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	48 years	21 years
Marriage Place	At the Private residence of the bride, 214 Whittaker Street, Gisborne
Folio	6928
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Edwin Thomas Cox, Methodist Minister, Gisborne

129

27 July 1921

Henry Redvers Richards
Myrtle Clark

Henry Redvers Richards
Myrtle Clark
💍 1921/8387

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Home Duties

20
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

18 years
18 months

The Methodist Parsonage, 351 Palmerston Road, Gisborne

6929

James Henry Richards (Father), Isabella Clark (Mother)

27 July 1921

Rev Edwin Thomas Cox, Methodist Minister, Gisborne

No	129
Date of Notice	27 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Redvers Richards	Myrtle Clark
	💍 1921/8387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Home Duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	18 years	18 months
Marriage Place	The Methodist Parsonage, 351 Palmerston Road, Gisborne
Folio	6929
Consent	James Henry Richards (Father), Isabella Clark (Mother)
Date of Certificate	27 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Edwin Thomas Cox, Methodist Minister, Gisborne

130

28 July 1921

George Thomas Maxwell
Lilian Myrtle Davies

George Thomas Maxwell
Lilian Myrtle Davies
💍 1921/8388

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
24

Waiherere
Waiherere

9 years
life

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

6930

28 July 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	130
Date of Notice	28 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Maxwell	Lilian Myrtle Davies
	💍 1921/8388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Waiherere	Waiherere
Length of Residence	9 years	life
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	6930
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1921
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).