Intentions to Marry, 1908 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840436, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 106

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1908 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

583

12 June 1908

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sinclair
Eliza Ballow Robertson

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sinclair
Eliza Ballon Robertson
💍 1908/1846

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
20

Auckland
Auckland

28 years
20 years

St Mathew's Church

08/1926

John Robertson, father

12 June 1908

Rev. W. R. Gillam, Church of England

No	583
Date of Notice	12 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Wendell Holmes Sinclair	Eliza Ballow Robertson
BDM Match (98%)	Oliver Wendell Holmes Sinclair	Eliza Ballon Robertson
	💍 1908/1846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Mathew's Church
Folio	08/1926
Consent	John Robertson, father
Date of Certificate	12 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Gillam, Church of England

584

12 June 1908

Bennet Rickard Burke
Blanche Elkin

Bennet Rickard Burke
Blanche Elkin
💍 1908/1830

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

40
36

Auckland
Auckland

40 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

08/1894

12 June 1908

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	584
Date of Notice	12 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bennet Rickard Burke	Blanche Elkin
	💍 1908/1830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	40 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	08/1894
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1908
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

585

13 June 1908

George Frederick Atkins
Ellen Bruce

George Frederick Atkins
Ellen Bruce
💍 1908/1936

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

38
25

Auckland
Khyber Pass

38 years
25 years

St David's Church

08/2025

13 June 1908

Rev. W. G. Dixon, Presbyterian

No	585
Date of Notice	13 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Atkins	Ellen Bruce
	💍 1908/1936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Khyber Pass
Length of Residence	38 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St David's Church
Folio	08/2025
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Dixon, Presbyterian

586

15 June 1908

Henry Laten Jessop
Jessie Margaret Tansley

Henry Laten Jessop
Jessie Margaret Tansley
💍 1908/1881

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
19

Auckland
Onehunga

22 years
19 years

St Peter's Church

08/1971

George Edward Tansley, father

15 June 1908

Canon J. Haselden, Church of England

No	586
Date of Notice	15 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Laten Jessop	Jessie Margaret Tansley
	💍 1908/1881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church
Folio	08/1971
Consent	George Edward Tansley, father
Date of Certificate	15 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Canon J. Haselden, Church of England

587

15 June 1908

Neil McLean
Edith Annie Spooner

Neil McLean
Edith Annie Spooner
💍 1908/7517

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

26
26

Auckland
Remuera

26 years
26 years

St Mark's Church

08/6110

15 June 1908

Rev. G. W. Walker, Church of England

No	587
Date of Notice	15 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil McLean	Edith Annie Spooner
	💍 1908/7517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church
Folio	08/6110
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Walker, Church of England

588

15 June 1908

William Holmes John Lyons
Doris Margaret Walpole

William Holmes St John Lyons
Doris Margaret Walpole
💍 1908/1898

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

19
19

Auckland
Ponsonby

19 days
3 days

All Saints Church

08/1988

George Albert Walpole, father

29 June 1908

Rev. G. B. Thomas, Church of England

No	588
Date of Notice	15 June 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Holmes John Lyons	Doris Margaret Walpole
BDM Match (95%)	William Holmes St John Lyons	Doris Margaret Walpole
	💍 1908/1898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	19 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	08/1988
Consent	George Albert Walpole, father
Date of Certificate	29 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Thomas, 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).