Intentions to Marry, 1905 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840427, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 778

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar Edmund Humphrey Lyons

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

325

2 May 1905

Francis Henry Backhurst
Maud Mary Gertrude Jennings

Francis Henry Backhurst
Maud Mary Gertrude Gunning
💍 1905/5155

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

26
27

Onehunga
Onehunga

2 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga

05/1758

2 May 1905

Rev. J. Duffy, Roman Catholic

No	325
Date of Notice	2 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Backhurst	Maud Mary Gertrude Jennings
BDM Match (94%)	Francis Henry Backhurst	Maud Mary Gertrude Gunning
	💍 1905/5155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga
Folio	05/1758
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Duffy, Roman Catholic

326

2 May 1905

Richard Carter
May Hoy Rodda

Richard Hoy
May Rodda
💍 1905/6451

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Auckland

05/1635

2 May 1905

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	326
Date of Notice	2 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Carter	May Hoy Rodda
BDM Match (63%)	Richard Hoy	May Rodda
	💍 1905/6451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	05/1635
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1905
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

327

2 May 1905

Robert John Wofford
Ethel Florence Cole

Robert John Kofoed
Ethel Florence Cole
💍 1905/5160

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

23
20

Onehunga
Onehunga

2 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga

05/1759

William Cole, father of bride

2 May 1905

Rev. J. Duffy, Roman Catholic

No	327
Date of Notice	2 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Wofford	Ethel Florence Cole
BDM Match (92%)	Robert John Kofoed	Ethel Florence Cole
	💍 1905/5160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Onehunga
Folio	05/1759
Consent	William Cole, father of bride
Date of Certificate	2 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Duffy, Roman Catholic

328

3 May 1905

Thomas McNamara
Emily Joass

Thomas McNamara
Emily Joass
💍 1905/6452

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
26

Auckland
Auckland

29 years
11 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

05/1636

3 May 1905

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	328
Date of Notice	3 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McNamara	Emily Joass
	💍 1905/6452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	29 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	05/1636
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1905
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

329

3 May 1905

Edward McCaffery
Annie Roach

Edward Joseph McCaffery
Annie Roach
💍 1905/6529

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

29
21

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
5 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

05/1742

3 May 1905

Rev. H. J. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

No	329
Date of Notice	3 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward McCaffery	Annie Roach
BDM Match (85%)	Edward Joseph McCaffery	Annie Roach
	💍 1905/6529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	05/1742
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Holbrook, Roman Catholic

330

3 May 1905

William Attenborough
Jessie Collicoat

William Attenborough
Jessie Collicoat
💍 1905/5150

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

32
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Pitt Street

05/1773

3 May 1905

Rev. C. A. Fasland, Methodist

No	330
Date of Notice	3 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Attenborough	Jessie Collicoat
	💍 1905/5150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	05/1773
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Fasland, Methodist

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 1903. 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).