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 018

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar Edmund Humphrey, 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

17 January 1908

Frank Livingstone Combs
Louise Florence Leys Thomson

Frank Livingstone Combs
Louise Florence Leys Thomson
💍 1908/209

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

25
32

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
20 years

St. Peters Manse

08/162

17 January 1908

Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	17 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Livingstone Combs	Louise Florence Leys Thomson
	💍 1908/209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Manse
Folio	08/162
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

18 January 1908

Joseph William Deacon
Monica May Bonner

Joseph William Deacon
Monica May Bonner
💍 1908/216

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
20

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
20 years

House of Father of Bride, Devouport

08/163

Thomas William Bonner, Father

18 January 1908

Rev. J. E. Bertram, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	18 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Deacon	Monica May Bonner
	💍 1908/216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Devouport
Folio	08/163
Consent	Thomas William Bonner, Father
Date of Certificate	18 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Bertram, Presbyterian

18 January 1908

Hector Edward Gray
Ellen Mary Pitt

Hector Edward Gray
Ellen Mary Pitt
💍 1908/4187

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey

22
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
19 years

House of Mother of Bride, Remuera

08/2615

Mary Thompson, Mother

18 January 1908

Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

No	57
Date of Notice	18 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Edward Gray	Ellen Mary Pitt
	💍 1908/4187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride, Remuera
Folio	08/2615
Consent	Mary Thompson, Mother
Date of Certificate	18 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Buckley, Roman Catholic

20 January 1908

William Simpson
Elizabeth Frances Curry

William Simpson
Elizabeth Frances Curry
💍 1908/6926

Bachelor
Widow

Storekeeper

46
47

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 years

Church of England, Northcote

08/528

20 January 1908

Rev. A. F. Smith, Church of England

No	58
Date of Notice	20 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Simpson	Elizabeth Frances Curry
	💍 1908/6926
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	46	47
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Northcote
Folio	08/528
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Smith, Church of England

20 January 1908

Arnold Gerald Robinson
Bessie Rane Metcalfe

Arnold Gerald Robinson
Bessie Rane Metcalfe
💍 1908/256

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

20
19

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
16 years

House of Mother of Bride, Upper Union Street

08/230

J. Robinson, Father; M. Metcalfe, Mother

20 January 1908

Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

No	59
Date of Notice	20 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Gerald Robinson	Bessie Rane Metcalfe
	💍 1908/256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	16 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride, Upper Union Street
Folio	08/230
Consent	J. Robinson, Father; M. Metcalfe, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walker, Church of Our Father

20 January 1908

Wilfred Rutledge
Ada Annie Goff

Wilfred Rutledge
Ada Annie Cox
💍 1908/266

Bachelor
Spinster

Monumental Mason

25
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
2 weeks

Methodist Church, Pitt Street

08/215

20 January 1908

Rev. J. A. Cuxford, Primitive Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	20 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Rutledge	Ada Annie Goff
BDM Match (89%)	Wilfred Rutledge	Ada Annie Cox
	💍 1908/266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Monumental Mason
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	08/215
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Cuxford, Primitive Methodist

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).