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 750

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1905 Registrar 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

492

4 July 1905

John Francis Back
Alice Amelia Hutchinson

John Francis Martin
Alice Amelia Hutchinson
💍 1905/1963

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
21

Auckland
Auckland

21 years

St Benedict's Church, Auckland

05/443

4 July 1905

Rev. S. H. Sillan, Roman Catholic

No	492
Date of Notice	4 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Back	Alice Amelia Hutchinson
BDM Match (87%)	John Francis Martin	Alice Amelia Hutchinson
	💍 1905/1963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years
Marriage Place	St Benedict's Church, Auckland
Folio	05/443
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. Sillan, Roman Catholic

493

5 July 1905

William John Buldett
Stella Annie Harory

William John Burdett
Stella Annie Harvey
💍 1905/1311

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

21 years

House of father of Bride, York Street

05/3745

4 July 1905

J. Wilkins, Congregationalist

No	493
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Buldett	Stella Annie Harory
BDM Match (92%)	William John Burdett	Stella Annie Harvey
	💍 1905/1311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years
Marriage Place	House of father of Bride, York Street
Folio	05/3745
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1905
Officiating Minister	J. Wilkins, Congregationalist

494

5 July 1905

Thomas Henry Burnett
Alice Gallagher

Thomas Henry Burnett
Alice Callagher
💍 1905/1171

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

19
22

Auckland
Auckland

19 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

05/3605

James Burnett, father

5 July 1905

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	494
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Burnett	Alice Gallagher
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Henry Burnett	Alice Callagher
	💍 1905/1171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	05/3605
Consent	James Burnett, father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

495

5 July 1905

Edward Knox
Ellen McGrath

Edward Knox
Ellen McGrath
💍 1905/1940

Bachelor
Spinster

Fish Curer

28
22

Auckland
Auckland

28 years

St Benedict's Church, Auckland

05/4436

5 July 1905

Rev. S. H. Sillan, Roman Catholic

No	495
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Knox	Ellen McGrath
	💍 1905/1940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fish Curer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 years
Marriage Place	St Benedict's Church, Auckland
Folio	05/4436
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. Sillan, Roman Catholic

496

6 July 1905

John Shaughnessy
Janet McGregor

John Shaughnessy
Janet McGregor
💍 1905/1242

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

22 years

House of father of Bride, Canada Street

05/3675

6 July 1905

Rev. R. H. Wallen, Presbyterian

No	496
Date of Notice	6 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shaughnessy	Janet McGregor
	💍 1905/1242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years
Marriage Place	House of father of Bride, Canada Street
Folio	05/3675
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Wallen, Presbyterian

497

6 July 1905

William John Pelham
Daphne Horace Grace McQuarry

William John Albert Belsham
Daphne Florence Grace McAnneny
💍 1905/1328

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron worker

23
20

Auckland
Auckland

23 years

House of Rev. J. Clark, Whittaker Lane

05/3768

Henry Grace, father

6 July 1905

Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

No	497
Date of Notice	6 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Pelham	Daphne Horace Grace McQuarry
BDM Match (68%)	William John Albert Belsham	Daphne Florence Grace McAnneny
	💍 1905/1328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron worker
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Clark, Whittaker Lane
Folio	05/3768
Consent	Henry Grace, father
Date of Certificate	6 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).