Intentions to Marry, 1926 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840538, 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.

1926c contains pages 947-1388, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1015

District of Tauranga Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar J. B. Cameron

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

11 November 1926

Lance Aurlie Baillie Skitton
Isabel Violet Davies

Ednce Aurlie Baillie Skilton
Isabel Violet Davies
💍 1926/8419

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

24
16

Tauranga
Tauranga

14 years
16 years

Church of England, Tauranga

9658

Florence Beatrice Davies, mother

11 November 1926

Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	11 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lance Aurlie Baillie Skitton	Isabel Violet Davies
BDM Match (95%)	Ednce Aurlie Baillie Skilton	Isabel Violet Davies
	💍 1926/8419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	24	16
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	14 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tauranga
Folio	9658
Consent	Florence Beatrice Davies, mother
Date of Certificate	11 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

26 November 1926

Leslie Stafford Wood
Isabella Aitcheson Pringle Mckinlay

Leslie Stafford Wood
Isabella Aitcheson Pringle McKinlay
💍 1926/8420

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Compositor

22
21

Gatepa
Gatepa

2 1/2 years
18 years

Presbyterian Church, Tauranga

9659

26 November 1926

Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	26 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Stafford Wood	Isabella Aitcheson Pringle Mckinlay
BDM Match (99%)	Leslie Stafford Wood	Isabella Aitcheson Pringle McKinlay
	💍 1926/8420
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Compositor
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Gatepa	Gatepa
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tauranga
Folio	9659
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

3 December 1926

Gerald Vivian Roy Halloran
Esma May Matthews

Gerald Vivian Roy O'Halloran
Esma May Matthews
💍 1926/8397

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

26
22

Tauranga
Gatepa

3 years
4 years

Church of England, Gatepa

9660

3 December 1926

Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	3 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Vivian Roy Halloran	Esma May Matthews
BDM Match (96%)	Gerald Vivian Roy O'Halloran	Esma May Matthews
	💍 1926/8397
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Gatepa
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Gatepa
Folio	9660
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

7 December 1926

Herbert Valentine
Erla Harriett Grigg

Herbert Valentine
Erla Harriett Trigg
💍 1926/8398

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Drapers assistant

25
22

Auckland
Tauranga

22 years

Church of England, Tauranga

9661

7 December 1926

Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	7 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Valentine	Erla Harriett Grigg
BDM Match (97%)	Herbert Valentine	Erla Harriett Trigg
	💍 1926/8398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Drapers assistant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Tauranga
Length of Residence		22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tauranga
Folio	9661
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

8 December 1926

Roy William Collis
Lydia Alison Wright

Roy William Collis
Lydia Alison Wright
💍 1926/8399

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic Duties

22
21

Tauranga
Tauranga

18 months
1 year

Residence, Rev. J. W. Smyth, Spring Street, Tauranga

9662

8 December 1926

Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	8 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy William Collis	Lydia Alison Wright
	💍 1926/8399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	18 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence, Rev. J. W. Smyth, Spring Street, Tauranga
Folio	9662
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

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).