Intentions to Marry, 1926 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840537, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926b contains pages 471-946, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 482

District of Cambridge Quarter ending 30 June 1926 Registrar Hallan

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 April 1926

Herbert John Nelson
Mabel Dorothy Champtaloup Baker

Herbert John Nelson
Mabel Dorothy Chamftaloup Baker
💍 1926/4153

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Clerk

21
22

Cambridge
Cambridge

3 weeks
7 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Cambridge

4248

23 April 1926

Rev. James Hay, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	23 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Nelson	Mabel Dorothy Champtaloup Baker
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert John Nelson	Mabel Dorothy Chamftaloup Baker
	💍 1926/4153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Clerk
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	3 weeks	7 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Cambridge
Folio	4248
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hay, Presbyterian

3 May 1926

Frederick Newman Reeve Downard
Mary Dorothy Spotiswoode Hopkirk

Frederick Newman Reeve Downard
Mary Dorothy Spottiswoode Hopkirk
💍 1926/4154

Bachelor
Spinster

School teaching
Domestic Duties

47
29

Cambridge
Cambridge

4 days
19 years

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Cambridge

4249

3 May 1926

Rev. James Hay, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	3 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Newman Reeve Downard	Mary Dorothy Spotiswoode Hopkirk
BDM Match (99%)	Frederick Newman Reeve Downard	Mary Dorothy Spottiswoode Hopkirk
	💍 1926/4154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teaching	Domestic Duties
Age	47	29
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	4 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Presbyterian Church, Cambridge
Folio	4249
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hay, Presbyterian

5 May 1926

Alan Bradfield White
Grace Alma Nickle

Alan Bradfield White
Grace Alma Nickle
💍 1926/4155

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Pukekura, Cambridge
Pukekura, Cambridge

6 years
20 years

St Andrews Anglican Church, Cambridge

4250

J.B. Nickle, Father

5 May 1926

Rev. G. Mortimer Jones, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	5 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Bradfield White	Grace Alma Nickle
	💍 1926/4155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Pukekura, Cambridge	Pukekura, Cambridge
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Anglican Church, Cambridge
Folio	4250
Consent	J.B. Nickle, Father
Date of Certificate	5 May 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Mortimer Jones, Church of England

6 May 1926

Frank Louis Cartmill
Marie Evelyn Carwell-Cooke

Frank Louis Cartmill
Marie Evelyn Carwell-Cooke
💍 1926/4188

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic Duties

21
20

Hautapu, Cambridge
Hautapu, Cambridge

11 years
5 years

St Pauls Methodist Church, Cambridge

4251

A. Carwell-Cooke, Father

6 May 1926

Rev. John Donald McArthur, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	6 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Louis Cartmill	Marie Evelyn Carwell-Cooke
	💍 1926/4188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Hautapu, Cambridge	Hautapu, Cambridge
Length of Residence	11 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church, Cambridge
Folio	4251
Consent	A. Carwell-Cooke, Father
Date of Certificate	6 May 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Donald McArthur, Methodist

2 June 1926

Thomas Boweke
Mary Eileen Kelly

Thomas Bourke
Mary Eileen Kelly
💍 1926/4199

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Tailoress

24
21

Cambridge
Cambridge

14 days
6 years

St Peters Roman Catholic Church, Cambridge

4252

2 June 1926

Rev. John Kurrane, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	2 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Boweke	Mary Eileen Kelly
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Bourke	Mary Eileen Kelly
	💍 1926/4199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Tailoress
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	14 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Roman Catholic Church, Cambridge
Folio	4252
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Kurrane, Roman Catholic

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).