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 082

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1908

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

394

18 April 1908

Albert John Graham
Phoebe Annie Churches

Albert John Graham
Phoebe Annie Churches
💍 1908/2237

Bachelor
Spinster

Tea Merchant

32
31

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
4 years

Church of England

08/2361

18 April 1908

Rev. W. H. Wilson, Church of England

No	394
Date of Notice	18 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Graham	Phoebe Annie Churches
	💍 1908/2237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tea Merchant
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	08/2361
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Wilson, Church of England

398

21 April 1908

Norman Wiles Lightband
Mabel Baylis Ellis

Norman Wales Lightband
Mabel Balis Ellis
💍 1908/1944

Bachelor
Spinster

Book Keeper

30
28

Auckland
22 Hepburn St.

4 days
20 years

House of Father of Bride

08/2051

21 April 1908

Rev. J. Wilson, Methodist

No	398
Date of Notice	21 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Wiles Lightband	Mabel Baylis Ellis
BDM Match (95%)	Norman Wales Lightband	Mabel Balis Ellis
	💍 1908/1944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Book Keeper
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	22 Hepburn St.
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride
Folio	08/2051
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilson, Methodist

399

21 April 1908

George Corin
Harriet Mary Stanford

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
22 years

St. Paul's Church, Auckland

08/1946

21 April 1908

Rev. G. M. Nelson, Church of England

No	399
Date of Notice	21 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Corin	Harriet Mary Stanford
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/1946
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. M. Nelson, Church of England

400

21 April 1908

Harry Ernest Worth
Flora Grahame Coutkey-Baker

Harry Ernest Worsp
Flora Daphne Souther Baker
💍 1908/1890

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

36
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
2 years

St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

08/1957

21 April 1908

Rev. T. H. Reeve, Church of England

No	400
Date of Notice	21 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Ernest Worth	Flora Grahame Coutkey-Baker
BDM Match (78%)	Harry Ernest Worsp	Flora Daphne Souther Baker
	💍 1908/1890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/1957
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Reeve, Church of England

401

21 April 1908

William Henry Keighley
Edith Hoske Shields

William Henry Keighley
Edith Fosse Shields
💍 1908/1844

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
17

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
5 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

08/1919

Thomas Sadler Shields, father

21 April 1908

Rev. W. R. Gillam, Church of England

No	401
Date of Notice	21 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Keighley	Edith Hoske Shields
BDM Match (95%)	William Henry Keighley	Edith Fosse Shields
	💍 1908/1844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/1919
Consent	Thomas Sadler Shields, father
Date of Certificate	21 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Gillam, Church of England

402

21 April 1908

William Whittingham
Catherine Singleton

William Whittingham
Katherine Sarah Singleton
💍 1908/1891

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

39
38

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
6 years

St. Barnabas Church, Mt. Eden

08/1958

21 April 1908

Rev. E. J. Garland, Church of England

No	402
Date of Notice	21 April 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Whittingham	Catherine Singleton
BDM Match (86%)	William Whittingham	Katherine Sarah Singleton
	💍 1908/1891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Mt. Eden
Folio	08/1958
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Garland, 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).