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 484

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 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

31 January 1921

Sydney Roy Eric Wildish
Nellie Florence Coleman

Sydney Roy Eric Wildish
Nellie Florence Coleman
💍 1921/8969

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Tailoress

22
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

Life
Life 19 years

Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne

1574

Henry William Coleman (Father)

31 January 1921

Rev Horace Packe, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Roy Eric Wildish	Nellie Florence Coleman
	💍 1921/8969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Tailoress
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	Life	Life 19 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne
Folio	1574
Consent	Henry William Coleman (Father)
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe, Church of England

4 February 1921

John Charles Eagle Ogle
Evelyn Mary Emily Fleming

John Charles Kagle Ogle
Evelyn Mary Emily Fleming
💍 1921/8970

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Home duties

19
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
10 years

St Lukes Church of England, Waerenga-a-hika

1575

James Ogle (Father); Robert James Fleming (Father)

4 February 1921

Rev Gerald Henry Morse, Anglican, Waerenga-a-hika

No	17
Date of Notice	4 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Eagle Ogle	Evelyn Mary Emily Fleming
BDM Match (98%)	John Charles Kagle Ogle	Evelyn Mary Emily Fleming
	💍 1921/8970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Home duties
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church of England, Waerenga-a-hika
Folio	1575
Consent	James Ogle (Father); Robert James Fleming (Father)
Date of Certificate	4 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Gerald Henry Morse, Anglican, Waerenga-a-hika

3 February 1921

Thomas George Howell
Sylvia Helen Easthope

Thomas George Nowell
Sylvia Helen Easthope
💍 1921/10927

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

25
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 months
9 months

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

1576

3 February 1921

Rev Horace Packe, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	3 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George Howell	Sylvia Helen Easthope
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas George Nowell	Sylvia Helen Easthope
	💍 1921/10927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	1576
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe, Church of England

5 February 1921

James Tohill
Hannah Teahan

James Tohill
Hannah Teahan
💍 1921/8971

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic Servant

36
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

7 months
About 5 months

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

1577

5 February 1921

Rev Thomas Lane, Catholic Minister

No	19
Date of Notice	5 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Tohill	Hannah Teahan
	💍 1921/8971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Servant
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 months	About 5 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	1577
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Lane, Catholic Minister

8 February 1921

Edward Norman Tunnicliffe
Florence Isabel Wilkinson

Edward Norman Tunnicliffe
Florence Isabel Wilkinson
💍 1921/8972

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Saleswoman

36
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 days
Life

Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne

1578

8 February 1921

Rev Wm H. E. Abbey, Methodist Minister

No	20
Date of Notice	8 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Norman Tunnicliffe	Florence Isabel Wilkinson
	💍 1921/8972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Saleswoman
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 days	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne
Folio	1578
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm H. E. Abbey, Methodist Minister

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).