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 323

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1912 Registrar HENRY EWART HILL

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

106

20 July 1912

Percival Sue Harper
Doris Caroline Lister

Percival Guy Harper
Doris Caroline Lister
💍 1912/5017

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Waitress

26
17

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
8 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

12/4917

Helen Caroline Lister, mother

20 July 1912

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	106
Date of Notice	20 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Sue Harper	Doris Caroline Lister
BDM Match (95%)	Percival Guy Harper	Doris Caroline Lister
	💍 1912/5017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Waitress
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	8 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	12/4917
Consent	Helen Caroline Lister, mother
Date of Certificate	20 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

107

23 July 1912

Thomas John Ingram
Jane Brown

Thomas John Ingram
Jane Brown
💍 1912/6564

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

23
22

Waerenga-a-hika
Waerenga-a-hika, Poverty Bay

About 12 months
life

Private residence of the mother of the bride, Waerenga-a-hika

12/6458

23 July 1912

Rev. Edgar Ward, Church of England

No	107
Date of Notice	23 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Ingram	Jane Brown
	💍 1912/6564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Waerenga-a-hika	Waerenga-a-hika, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	About 12 months	life
Marriage Place	Private residence of the mother of the bride, Waerenga-a-hika
Folio	12/6458
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edgar Ward, Church of England

108

24 July 1912

Richard Campbell

Bachelor

Farmer

Makauri

No	108
Date of Notice	24 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Campbell
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Farmer
Age	22
Dwelling Place	Makauri
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

109

29 July 1912

James Horace Papworth
Alice Kate Field

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

18 months
4 days

Private residence of Mrs. Charles Field, Gladstone Road, Gisborne

12/5948

29 July 1912

Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	109
Date of Notice	29 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Horace Papworth	Alice Kate Field
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	18 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs. Charles Field, Gladstone Road, Gisborne
Folio	12/5948
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

110

29 July 1912

Edward Roy Bray
Helen Galloway

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Domestic Duties

24
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 months
18 months

At the Private residence of the Bride's parents, 365 Ormond Road

12/5190

29 July 1912

Rev. T. Keith Green, Baptist Minister

No	110
Date of Notice	29 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Roy Bray	Helen Galloway
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	At the Private residence of the Bride's parents, 365 Ormond Road
Folio	12/5190
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Keith Green, Baptist Minister

111

2 August 1912

Frederick Goldsmith
Olga Charlotte Millicent Smith

Bachelor
Spinster

Aerated Water Factory Hand
Tailoress

23
24

Gisborne
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

5 years
5 days

Private residence of the Bride's parents, 119 Golden Street, Gisborne

12/5949

2 August 1912

Rev. Thos. Keith Green, Baptist Minister

No	111
Date of Notice	2 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Goldsmith	Olga Charlotte Millicent Smith
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Aerated Water Factory Hand	Tailoress
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	5 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Private residence of the Bride's parents, 119 Golden Street, Gisborne
Folio	12/5949
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Keith Green, Baptist Minister

112

7 August 1912

Frederick Alexander Shanks
Harriet Ann Ashworth

Fredrick Goldsmith
Harriet Ann Ashworth
💍 1912/5878

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Housemaid

35
23

Kanakanaia
Gisborne, Omawahi

20 years
3 years

St. George's English Church, Patutahi, Poverty Bay

12/5183

17 August 1912

Rev. Henry J. Rawnsley, Church of England

No	112
Date of Notice	7 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alexander Shanks	Harriet Ann Ashworth
BDM Match (71%)	Fredrick Goldsmith	Harriet Ann Ashworth
	💍 1912/5878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Housemaid
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Kanakanaia	Gisborne, Omawahi
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. George's English Church, Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Folio	12/5183
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry J. Rawnsley, 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).