Intentions to Marry, 1911 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840445, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 672

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1911 Registrar William Henry Potts

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

7 July 1911

William Lanning
Madeline Gertrude Dare

William Lanning
Madeline Gertrude Dare
💍 1911/5507

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic duties

26
34

Thames
Thames

26 years
34 years

In the house of Mrs Dare, Waiotahi

11/5322

7 July 1911

Rev I Ireshail, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	29
Date of Notice	7 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lanning	Madeline Gertrude Dare
	💍 1911/5507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic duties
Age	26	34
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	34 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Dare, Waiotahi
Folio	11/5322
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev I Ireshail, Methodist Church of Australasia

11 July 1911

Thomas Graham Autridge
Bertha Harrison

Thomas Graham Autridge
Bertha Harrison
💍 1911/5877

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

26
22

Thames
Thames

26 years
22 years

In the house of Mr H. Autridge, Richmond St.

11/5467

11 July 1911

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	11 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Graham Autridge	Bertha Harrison
	💍 1911/5877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr H. Autridge, Richmond St.
Folio	11/5467
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

11 July 1911

Alexander Dallas Wilson
Helen Mackechnie Gibson

Alexander Dallas Wilson
Helen Mackechnie-Gibson
💍 1911/5626

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

31
29

Auckland
Thames

11 years
29 years

In the house of Mrs J.C. Mackechnie Gibson, Bailhe St. Thames

11/5464

11 July 1911

Rev W.H. Hinton, Baptist

No	31
Date of Notice	11 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Dallas Wilson	Helen Mackechnie Gibson
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Dallas Wilson	Helen Mackechnie-Gibson
	💍 1911/5626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Thames
Length of Residence	11 years	29 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs J.C. Mackechnie Gibson, Bailhe St. Thames
Folio	11/5464
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev W.H. Hinton, Baptist

22 July 1911

George Henry Longshaw
Jane Emily Walton

George Henry Longshaw
Jane Emily Walton
💍 1911/5508

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic duties

27
27

Thames
Thames

5 years
27 years

In the house of Mr L. Walton, Sealey Street, Thames

11/5323

22 July 1911

Rev I Ireshail, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	32
Date of Notice	22 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Longshaw	Jane Emily Walton
	💍 1911/5508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	27 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr L. Walton, Sealey Street, Thames
Folio	11/5323
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev I Ireshail, Methodist Church of Australasia

31 July 1911

Alfred Tom Vowles
Mabel Louisa Newland

Alfred Tom Vowles
Mabel Louisa Newland
💍 1911/5624

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
25

Thames
Thames

2 days
25 years

In the house of Mr H.G. Newland, Matatoke

11/5462

2 August 1911

Rev J Plowre, Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	31 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Tom Vowles	Mabel Louisa Newland
	💍 1911/5624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr H.G. Newland, Matatoke
Folio	11/5462
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J Plowre, Church of England

29 August 1911

William Thomas Johnson
Lily Beck

William Thomas Johnson
Lily Beck
💍 1911/5625

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
23

Turua
Turua

20 years
6 years

St Georges Church, Mackay St. Thames

11/5463

29 August 1911

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	29 August 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Johnson	Lily Beck
	💍 1911/5625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Mackay St. Thames
Folio	11/5463
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1911
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).