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 029

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Thomas Culpan

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

136

31 January 1912

Thomas Graham
Essie Smith

Thomas Graham Bryan
Essie Smith
💍 1912/940

Thomas Gilbert Wakeham
Elsie Myra Smith
💍 1912/8974

Donald McGlashan
Jessie Smith
💍 1913/2330

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster

34
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
2 years

St. Matthews Church

12/590

31 January 1912

Rev. W. F. Pillans

No	136
Date of Notice	31 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Graham	Essie Smith
BDM Match (84%)	Thomas Graham Bryan	Essie Smith
	💍 1912/940
BDM Match (61%)	Thomas Gilbert Wakeham	Elsie Myra Smith
	💍 1912/8974
BDM Match (60%)	Donald McGlashan	Jessie Smith
	💍 1913/2330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	12/590
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Pillans

137

31 January 1912

John Hemphill
Elsa Ruth Harrison

John Hemphill Hunter
Elsa Ruth Harrison
💍 1912/906

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
3 months

St. James Church

12/556

31 January 1912

Rev. R. R. Walker

No	137
Date of Notice	31 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hemphill	Elsa Ruth Harrison
BDM Match (83%)	John Hemphill Hunter	Elsa Ruth Harrison
	💍 1912/906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. James Church
Folio	12/556
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. Walker

138

31 January 1912

Arthur Hudson
Elizabeth Pittings

Arthur Hudson
Elizabeth Gittings
💍 1912/801

Widower
Spinster

Conductor

36
23

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
9 months

St. Paul's Church, Mt. Roskill

12/427

31 January 1912

Rev. H. S. Wingfield

No	138
Date of Notice	31 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hudson	Elizabeth Pittings
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Hudson	Elizabeth Gittings
	💍 1912/801
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Conductor
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Mt. Roskill
Folio	12/427
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Wingfield

139

1 February 1912

James Power
Margaret Ellen Ellison

James Power
Margaret Stella Ellison
💍 1912/843

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

22
18

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
1 year

St. Benedict's Church

12/468

James Edward Ellison, father of bride

1 February 1912

Rev. P. A. Pillans

No	139
Date of Notice	1 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Power	Margaret Ellen Ellison
BDM Match (89%)	James Power	Margaret Stella Ellison
	💍 1912/843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	12/468
Consent	James Edward Ellison, father of bride
Date of Certificate	1 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Pillans

140

1 February 1912

Edwin Gibbs
Alice Maria Carroll

Edwin Gibbs
Alice Maria Carroll
💍 1912/440

Divorced
Spinster

Seaman

28
27

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
4 years

Registrar's Office

12/38

1 February 1912

Registrar

No	140
Date of Notice	1 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Gibbs	Alice Maria Carroll
	💍 1912/440
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	12/38
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar

141

1 February 1912

William James Handcock
Agnes Cowper

William James Handcock
Agnes Souper
💍 1912/918

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

36
27

Auckland
Remuera

6 years
6 years

St. Luke's Church

12/543

1 February 1912

Rev. J. S. Monro

No	141
Date of Notice	1 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Handcock	Agnes Cowper
BDM Match (92%)	William James Handcock	Agnes Souper
	💍 1912/918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church
Folio	12/543
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Monro

142

1 February 1912

Laughlan McIntyre
Anne Kelly

Laughlan McIntyre
Annie Kelly
💍 1912/441

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

38
27

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
3 months

Registrar's Office

12/39

1 February 1912

Registrar

No	142
Date of Notice	1 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laughlan McIntyre	Anne Kelly
BDM Match (95%)	Laughlan McIntyre	Annie Kelly
	💍 1912/441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	12/39
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).