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 061

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1907

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

298

5 April 1907

Herbert Horspool
Sydney Hume

Herbert Horspool
Sydney Hume
💍 1907/2306

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

26
27

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
20 years

Congregational Church, Beresford Street

07/2410

5 April 1907

Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational Independent

No	298
Date of Notice	5 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Horspool	Sydney Hume
	💍 1907/2306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Beresford Street
Folio	07/2410
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational Independent

299

5 April 1907

William Arthur Spragg
Selda Swaziland Noone

William Arthur Spragg
Zelda Swaisland Noone
💍 1907/2305

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach-builder

21
19

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
19 years

Congregational Church, Edinburgh Street

07/2409

Henry Noone, Father

5 April 1907

Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational Independent

No	299
Date of Notice	5 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Spragg	Selda Swaziland Noone
BDM Match (93%)	William Arthur Spragg	Zelda Swaisland Noone
	💍 1907/2305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach-builder
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Edinburgh Street
Folio	07/2409
Consent	Henry Noone, Father
Date of Certificate	5 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilkins, Congregational Independent

300

5 April 1907

Ernest George Butterworth
Sarah Ann Cressey

Ernest George Butterworth
Sarah Ann Cressey
💍 1907/2189

Bachelor
Spinster

Tanner

25
25

Auckland
Auckland

9 months
4 days

House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street

07/2315

5 April 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	300
Date of Notice	5 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Butterworth	Sarah Ann Cressey
	💍 1907/2189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tanner
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 months	4 days
Marriage Place	House of Rev. M. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	07/2315
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

301

5 April 1907

George Francis Barakat
Ann Quirk

George Francis Baraket
Ann Quirk
💍 1907/2246

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
5 years

House of Rev. J. A. Luxford, Hopebourn Street

07/2350

5 April 1907

Rev. J. A. Luxford, Methodist

No	301
Date of Notice	5 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Francis Barakat	Ann Quirk
BDM Match (98%)	George Francis Baraket	Ann Quirk
	💍 1907/2246
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. A. Luxford, Hopebourn Street
Folio	07/2350
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luxford, Methodist

302

5 April 1907

Victor Hugh Townsend
Alice Maude Dunphy

Victor Hugh Townsend
Alice Maud Dunphy
💍 1907/2190

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
4 years

House of Mother of Bride, Nelson Street

07/2316

Mother of Bride

5 April 1907

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	302
Date of Notice	5 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Hugh Townsend	Alice Maude Dunphy
BDM Match (97%)	Victor Hugh Townsend	Alice Maud Dunphy
	💍 1907/2190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride, Nelson Street
Folio	07/2316
Consent	Mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	5 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

303

5 April 1907

James Frederick Reed
Alice Catherine Wood

James Frederick Reed
Alice Catherine Wood
💍 1907/2254

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman

33
29

Auckland
Auckland

1 1/2 years
25 years

St. Mark's Church, Remuera

07/2370

5 April 1907

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	303
Date of Notice	5 April 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Frederick Reed	Alice Catherine Wood
	💍 1907/2254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Remuera
Folio	07/2370
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

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).