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 062

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

295

24 March 1908

George William Brayshaw
Lila May Carroll

George William Brayshaw
Lila May Carroll
💍 1908/301

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
22

Auckland
Auckland

1 week
3 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Avondale

08/281

24 March 1908

Rev. G. Clement, Primitive Methodist

No	295
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Brayshaw	Lila May Carroll
	💍 1908/301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 week	3 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Avondale
Folio	08/281
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement, Primitive Methodist

296

24 March 1908

Cecil Charles Hutchings
Sylvia Haigh

Cecil Charles Hutchings
Sylvia Haigh
💍 1908/1913

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant, Harbour Department

29
24

Auckland
Auckland

8 months
10 years

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

08/1979

24 March 1908

Rev. G. C. Thomas, Church of England

No	296
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Charles Hutchings	Sylvia Haigh
	💍 1908/1913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant, Harbour Department
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 months	10 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	08/1979
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Thomas, Church of England

297

24 March 1908

Henry Alfred Walters
Marion Elizabeth Hollister

Henry Alfred Walters
Marion Elizabeth Hollister
💍 1908/155

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman

31
29

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
2 months

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

08/120

24 March 1908

Rev. W. G. Gillam, Church of England

No	297
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Walters	Marion Elizabeth Hollister
	💍 1908/155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/120
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Gillam, Church of England

298

24 March 1908

Reginald Heber Skelton
Annie Robina Blackwell

Reginald Heber Skelton
Annie Robina Blackwell
💍 1908/1816

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
31

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
9 days

Church of England, Roskill

08/1904

24 March 1908

Rev. G. B. Wingfield, Church of England

No	298
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Heber Skelton	Annie Robina Blackwell
	💍 1908/1816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	9 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Roskill
Folio	08/1904
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Wingfield, Church of England

299

24 March 1908

Harry Rakin
Elsie Harriet Smith

Harry Askin
Elsie Harriet Smith
💍 1908/1999

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

31
29

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
29 years

St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell

08/2117

24 March 1908

Rev. G. E. Pace Murray, Church of England

No	299
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Rakin	Elsie Harriet Smith
BDM Match (91%)	Harry Askin	Elsie Harriet Smith
	💍 1908/1999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	08/2117
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Pace Murray, Church of England

300

24 March 1908

James Scott
Elizabeth Smith Hobson

James Scott
Elizabeth Smith Hobson
💍 1908/277

Widower
Spinster

Draper's Assistant

51
44

Auckland
Auckland

51 years
44 years

House of mother of bride, Great North Road, Grey Lynn

08/254

24 March 1908

Rev. G. Burgess, Congregational Independent

No	300
Date of Notice	24 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Scott	Elizabeth Smith Hobson
	💍 1908/277
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant
Age	51	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	51 years	44 years
Marriage Place	House of mother of bride, Great North Road, Grey Lynn
Folio	08/254
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Burgess, Congregational Independent

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).