Intentions to Marry, 1912 Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840448, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 696

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1912 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

27 May 1912

Hugh Clifford Risworth
Annie Muriel Load

Hugh Clifford Rishworth
Annie Muriel Coad
💍 1912/3204

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister & Solicitor
Domestic duties

28
28

Whangarei
Thames

5 years
6 weeks

Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames

12/2981

27 May 1912

Rev. I. Trestrail, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	22
Date of Notice	27 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Clifford Risworth	Annie Muriel Load
BDM Match (95%)	Hugh Clifford Rishworth	Annie Muriel Coad
	💍 1912/3204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor	Domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	12/2981
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Trestrail, Methodist Church of Australasia

1 June 1912

Raymond Joseph Swan
Frances Ann Green

Raymond Joseph Swan
Frances Ann Green
💍 1912/3207

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Household duties

24
19

Omahu
Omahu

6 years
19 years

In the house of C. Lawrence, Fenton Street, Thames

12/2984

Arthur Green, father

1 June 1912

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	23
Date of Notice	1 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Joseph Swan	Frances Ann Green
	💍 1912/3207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Household duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Omahu	Omahu
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of C. Lawrence, Fenton Street, Thames
Folio	12/2984
Consent	Arthur Green, father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1912
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

5 June 1912

William Henry Littlejohn
Mary Murphy

William Henry Littlejohn
Mary Murphy
💍 1912/3206

Edward Henry Bosanko
Mary Murphy
💍 1912/8022

James Henry Adams
Mary Murphy
💍 1912/5501

Bachelor
Widow

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

32
35

Hikutara
Hikutara

6 years
2 years

In the house of Mrs. Murphy, Hikutara

12/2983

5 June 1912

Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	5 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Littlejohn	Mary Murphy
	💍 1912/3206
BDM Match (67%)	Edward Henry Bosanko	Mary Murphy
	💍 1912/8022
BDM Match (65%)	James Henry Adams	Mary Murphy
	💍 1912/5501
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Hikutara	Hikutara
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Murphy, Hikutara
Folio	12/2983
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

6 June 1912

Edward Walter Lynden
Elizabeth Lillian Gentle

Edward Walter Lynden
Elizabeth Lillian Gentle
💍 1912/2248

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

24
23

Thames
Thames

2 days
2 days

Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

12/2037

8 June 1912

W. H. Potts, Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	6 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Walter Lynden	Elizabeth Lillian Gentle
	💍 1912/2248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	12/2037
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1912
Officiating Minister	W. H. Potts, Registrar

15 June 1912

John Henry Allan
Emily Philomene Foy

John Henry Allan
Emily Philomene Foy
💍 1912/3205

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

28
29

Thames
Thames

6 years
29 years

St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames

12/2982

15 June 1912

Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	15 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Allan	Emily Philomene Foy
	💍 1912/3205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	12/2982
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

22 June 1912

James Henry Ellis
Florence May Wishart

James Henry Ellis
Florence May Wishart
💍 1912/3203

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Music Teacher

32
28

Thames
Thames

1 month
26 years

Methodist Church of Australasia, Pollen St, Thames

12/2980

22 June 1912

Rev. T. Trestrail, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	27
Date of Notice	22 June 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Ellis	Florence May Wishart
	💍 1912/3203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Music Teacher
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 month	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church of Australasia, Pollen St, Thames
Folio	12/2980
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Trestrail, Methodist Church of Australasia

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).