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 033

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar R. H. 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

139

14 February 1908

William Henry Whitelaw
Catherine Mary Grace Frost

William Henry Whitelaw
Catherine Mary Grace Frost
💍 1908/242

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
19

Auckland
Auckland

24 years
19 years

Roman Catholic Church, Otahuhu

08/191

17 February 1908

Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

No	139
Date of Notice	14 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Whitelaw	Catherine Mary Grace Frost
	💍 1908/242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	24 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Otahuhu
Folio	08/191
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

140

17 February 1908

William Henry Crossman
Minnie Brett

William Henry Crossman
Minnie Brett
💍 1908/63

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

08/22

17 February 1908

R. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	140
Date of Notice	17 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Crossman	Minnie Brett
	💍 1908/63
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	08/22
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	R. H. Lyons, Registrar

141

17 February 1908

Gideon Clarke
Mary Bell

Gideon Clarke
May Bell
💍 1908/260

Widower
Spinster

Printer

44
25

Auckland
Auckland

44 years
25 years

House of Mrs. Sinclair, Union Street

08/235

17 February 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	141
Date of Notice	17 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gideon Clarke	Mary Bell
BDM Match (94%)	Gideon Clarke	May Bell
	💍 1908/260
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	44	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	44 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Sinclair, Union Street
Folio	08/235
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

142

17 February 1908

George Joseph France
Grace Hutchinson

George Joseph France
Grace Hutchinson
💍 1908/64

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineman, C.J.R.

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
22 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

08/23

17 February 1908

R. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	142
Date of Notice	17 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Joseph France	Grace Hutchinson
	💍 1908/64
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineman, C.J.R.
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	08/23
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	R. H. Lyons, Registrar

143

17 February 1908

Edward George Britten
Amy Elizabeth Hull

Edward George Britton Moss
Amy Elizabeth Hall
💍 1908/673

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister

51
44

Auckland
Feilding

38 years
2 months

Church of England, Feilding

08/676

17 February 1908

Rev. A. A. J. Jones, Church of England

No	143
Date of Notice	17 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Britten	Amy Elizabeth Hull
BDM Match (86%)	Edward George Britton Moss	Amy Elizabeth Hall
	💍 1908/673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister
Age	51	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Feilding
Length of Residence	38 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Feilding
Folio	08/676
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. J. Jones, Church of England

144

17 February 1908

Frederick William Moore
Ethel Harriet Te Tumanako Barclay

Frederick William Moore
Ethel Harriet te Tumanako Barclay
💍 1908/117

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

30
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
12 years

St. Barnabas Church, Auckland

08/53

17 February 1908

Rev. R. J. McFarland, Church of England

No	144
Date of Notice	17 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Moore	Ethel Harriet Te Tumanako Barclay
BDM Match (99%)	Frederick William Moore	Ethel Harriet te Tumanako Barclay
	💍 1908/117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Auckland
Folio	08/53
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. McFarland, 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).