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 045

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

199

28 February 1908

Joseph Henry Parkes
Julie Ryan

Joseph Henry Parkes
Julie Ryan
💍 1908/228

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24
24

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
10 years

Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby

08/201

28 February 1908

Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

No	199
Date of Notice	28 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Parkes	Julie Ryan
	💍 1908/228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby
Folio	08/201
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

200

29 February 1908

Frank Littleproud
Amy Rainger

Frank Littleproud
Amy Rainger
💍 1908/142

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

26
33

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
20 years

St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell

08/81

29 February 1908

Rev. G. M. Nelson, Church of England

No	200
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Littleproud	Amy Rainger
	💍 1908/142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	26	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	08/81
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. M. Nelson, Church of England

201

29 February 1908

Gordon Firth
Millie Florence Isabel Philip

Gordon Firth
Millie Florence Isabel Philip
💍 1908/311

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
25

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
25 years

Church of Christ, West Street

08/290

29 February 1908

G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	201
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Firth	Millie Florence Isabel Philip
	💍 1908/311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, West Street
Folio	08/290
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

202

29 February 1908

James Bowen Henderson
Sarah Evelyn Stanton

James Cowan Henderson
Sarah Evelyn Stanton
💍 1908/170

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

18
18

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
18 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

08/111

Robert Atkin Henderson, father; Samuel Stanton, father

29 February 1908

Rev. W. P. Gillam, Church of England

No	202
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bowen Henderson	Sarah Evelyn Stanton
BDM Match (95%)	James Cowan Henderson	Sarah Evelyn Stanton
	💍 1908/170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	08/111
Consent	Robert Atkin Henderson, father; Samuel Stanton, father
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Gillam, Church of England

203

29 February 1908

Henry Dale
Mary Ann Pratt

Henry Dale
Mary Ann Pratt
💍 1908/265

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
29

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 years

House of Rev. C. N. Walker, Wellington Street

08/241

29 February 1908

Rev. C. N. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	203
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dale	Mary Ann Pratt
	💍 1908/265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. C. N. Walker, Wellington Street
Folio	08/241
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. N. Walker, Church of Our Father

204

29 February 1908

Sydney Day
Fannie Likurangi Wright St. Blair

Sydney Day
Fanny Hikurangi Wright St Clair
💍 1908/212

Bachelor
Spinster

Milkman

23
23

Auckland
Auckland

1 1/2 years
1 year

St. Jame's Manse, Auckland

08/184

29 February 1908

Rev. R. S. Walker, Presbyterian

No	204
Date of Notice	29 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Day	Fannie Likurangi Wright St. Blair
BDM Match (92%)	Sydney Day	Fanny Hikurangi Wright St Clair
	💍 1908/212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milkman
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Jame's Manse, Auckland
Folio	08/184
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Walker, Presbyterian

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).