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 023

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

29 January 1908

Henry Alfred Somersershire Morris
Charlotte Elizabeth Heslop

Henry Alfred Somersetshire Morris
Charlotte Elizabeth Aeslop
💍 1908/231

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

29
34

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
34 years

Methodist Church, Grafton Road

08/204

29 January 1908

Rev. W. R. Inch, Primitive Methodist

No	79
Date of Notice	29 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Somersershire Morris	Charlotte Elizabeth Heslop
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Alfred Somersetshire Morris	Charlotte Elizabeth Aeslop
	💍 1908/231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Grafton Road
Folio	08/204
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Inch, Primitive Methodist

27 January 1908

Edward Purdy
Miriam Weingott

Edward Purdy
Miriam Weingott
💍 1908/52

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Conductor

22
18

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
3 days

Registrars Office

08/12

Carl Coleman Weingott, Father

27 January 1908

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	80
Date of Notice	27 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Purdy	Miriam Weingott
	💍 1908/52
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Conductor
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	08/12
Consent	Carl Coleman Weingott, Father
Date of Certificate	27 January 1908
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

28 January 1908

William Henry Amos
Louisa Mildred Amos

William Henry Amos
Louisa Mildred Amos
💍 1908/121

William Henry Amos
Louisa Mildred Amos
💍 1908/3832

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

25
26

Auckland
Devonport

5 days
5 years

Church of England

08/58

28 January 1908

Rev. E. G. McFarland, Church of England

No	81
Date of Notice	28 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Amos	Louisa Mildred Amos
	💍 1908/121
	💍 1908/3832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Devonport
Length of Residence	5 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	08/58
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. McFarland, Church of England

28 January 1908

Robert Frearson Bradshaw
Marjorie Patience Healey

Robert Frearson Bradshaw
Marjorie Patience Hedley
💍 1908/136

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
22 years

St. Matthews Church

08/100

28 January 1908

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	82
Date of Notice	28 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Frearson Bradshaw	Marjorie Patience Healey
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Frearson Bradshaw	Marjorie Patience Hedley
	💍 1908/136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	08/100
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

28 January 1908

Percy William Harwood
Ruth Mary Whitcombe

Percy William Harwood
Ruth Mary Whitcombe
💍 1908/289

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

24
18

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
18 years

House of Father of Bride, Wellington Street

08/266

George William Whitcombe, Father

28 January 1908

Rev. G. Clement, Primitive Methodist

No	83
Date of Notice	28 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Harwood	Ruth Mary Whitcombe
	💍 1908/289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Wellington Street
Folio	08/266
Consent	George William Whitcombe, Father
Date of Certificate	28 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement, Primitive Methodist

28 January 1908

Henry Colosill
Jane Ruth Shaw

Henry Cowsill
Jane Ruth Shaw
💍 1908/127

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

31
28

Auckland
Auckland

31 years
28 years

St. Sepulchres Church

08/92

28 January 1908

Rev. I. Reeve, Church of England

No	84
Date of Notice	28 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Colosill	Jane Ruth Shaw
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Cowsill	Jane Ruth Shaw
	💍 1908/127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	31 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchres Church
Folio	08/92
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Reeve, 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).