Intentions to Marry, 1907 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840433, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1907 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1907a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1907b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1907c).

Page 068

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 June 1907 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

340

15 April 1907

Robert Bruce Thomson
Ruth Booker De Bourcy

Robert Bruce Thomson
Ruth Booker De Courcy
💍 1907/2184

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent

38
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
23 years

House of Father of Bride, Ponsonby

07/2311

15 April 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	340
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Bruce Thomson	Ruth Booker De Bourcy
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Bruce Thomson	Ruth Booker De Courcy
	💍 1907/2184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Ponsonby
Folio	07/2311
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

341

15 April 1907

John Wakeham
Clara Edith Lucy Potter

John Wakeham
Clara Edith Lucy Potter
💍 1907/2290

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman, Dairy Association

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
14 years

St. Barnabas' Church, Mount Eden

07/2418

15 April 1907

Rev. G. W. Farland, Church of England

No	341
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wakeham	Clara Edith Lucy Potter
	💍 1907/2290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman, Dairy Association
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas' Church, Mount Eden
Folio	07/2418
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Farland, Church of England

342

15 April 1907

Stephen Lawrence
Ada Mailey Blaikie

Stephen Laurence
Ada Mailey Blaikie
💍 1907/2255

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
21

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
21 years

St. Mark's Church, Remuera

07/2371

15 April 1907

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	342
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Lawrence	Ada Mailey Blaikie
BDM Match (97%)	Stephen Laurence	Ada Mailey Blaikie
	💍 1907/2255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Remuera
Folio	07/2371
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

343

15 April 1907

Albert Edward Lyford
Gertrude Bruce

Albert Edward Lyford
Gertrude Bruce
💍 1907/2289

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

24
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
27 years

St. Thomas' Church, Auckland

07/2417

15 April 1907

Rev. W. M. Du Rien, Church of England

No	343
Date of Notice	15 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Lyford	Gertrude Bruce
	💍 1907/2289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Auckland
Folio	07/2417
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Du Rien, Church of England

344

16 April 1907

Henry Reid
Ellen Brown

Henry Reid
Ellen Brown
💍 1907/2253

Humphrey Sherriff
Ellen Brown
💍 1907/6293

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

33
21

Auckland
Auckland

18 years
21 years

St. Benedict's Church, Auckland

07/2381

16 April 1907

Rev. G. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

No	344
Date of Notice	16 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Reid	Ellen Brown
	💍 1907/2253
BDM Match (68%)	Humphrey Sherriff	Ellen Brown
	💍 1907/6293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church, Auckland
Folio	07/2381
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gillan, Roman Catholic

345

16 April 1907

Thomas Alexander Wadsworth
Alice May Nicholson

Thomas Alexander Wadsworth
Alice May Nicholson
💍 1907/2125

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
20

Auckland
Newmarket

20 years
20 years

House of Mr. W. Shick, Newmarket

07/2242

Maria Hobson, Mother

16 April 1907

Rev. G. W. J. Spence, Methodist

No	345
Date of Notice	16 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Wadsworth	Alice May Nicholson
	💍 1907/2125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Newmarket
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. W. Shick, Newmarket
Folio	07/2242
Consent	Maria Hobson, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. J. Spence, 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 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).