Intentions to Marry, 1913 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840451, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 148

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1913 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

900

25 July 1913

Arthur James Fergus Davie
Edith Louisa Difield

Arthur James Stirgus Davie
Edith Louisa Fifield
💍 1913/5243

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
20

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
Life

Church of the Epiphany, Newton

13/4923

Jesse Difield, father

25 July 1913

Rev. E. S. Forrester

No	900
Date of Notice	25 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Fergus Davie	Edith Louisa Difield
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur James Stirgus Davie	Edith Louisa Fifield
	💍 1913/5243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of the Epiphany, Newton
Folio	13/4923
Consent	Jesse Difield, father
Date of Certificate	25 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. S. Forrester

901

26 July 1913

Fred Norman Rhodes
Elsie Hilda Stewart

Fred Norman Rhodes
Elsie Hilda Stewart
💍 1913/4885

Bachelor
Spinster

Mining Engineer

28
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
Life

Registrar's Office

13/4487

26 July 1913

Registrar

No	901
Date of Notice	26 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Norman Rhodes	Elsie Hilda Stewart
	💍 1913/4885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mining Engineer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	13/4487
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

902

26 July 1913

Archibald William Ray Gilchrist
Helen Buddle

Archibald William Gray Gilchrist
Helen Buddle
💍 1913/4886

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

24
33

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
4 months

Registrar's Office

13/4488

26 July 1913

Registrar

No	902
Date of Notice	26 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald William Ray Gilchrist	Helen Buddle
BDM Match (97%)	Archibald William Gray Gilchrist	Helen Buddle
	💍 1913/4886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	24	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	13/4488
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

903

26 July 1913

John Ramsay Stewart Richardson
Ada Kathleen Knight

John Normdy Stuart-Richardson
Ada Kathleen Knight
💍 1913/5307

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

25
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
3 months

Holy Trinity Church, Devonport

13/4963

John Knight, father

26 July 1913

Arch. W. N. de L. Willis

No	903
Date of Notice	26 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ramsay Stewart Richardson	Ada Kathleen Knight
BDM Match (87%)	John Normdy Stuart-Richardson	Ada Kathleen Knight
	💍 1913/5307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Devonport
Folio	13/4963
Consent	John Knight, father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Arch. W. N. de L. Willis

904

28 July 1913

Geoffrey Squire Radley
Dorothy Whaley Walker

Geoffrey Squire Radley
Dorothy Whaley Walker
💍 1913/6847

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

St. Paul's Church

13/6364

28 July 1913

Rev. C. A. T. Watson

No	904
Date of Notice	28 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffrey Squire Radley	Dorothy Whaley Walker
	💍 1913/6847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	13/6364
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. T. Watson

905

28 July 1913

William Pethbridge Oritt Rose
Elizabeth Dannar

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

25
25

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
4 days

Residence of J. Galbraith, 36 Rendry Street, Newton

13/4837

28 July 1913

Rev. H. Beggs

No	905
Date of Notice	28 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pethbridge Oritt Rose	Elizabeth Dannar
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Galbraith, 36 Rendry Street, Newton
Folio	13/4837
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

906

28 July 1913

Hibernicus Travers Smyth
Violet Lillian Bowmar

Hibernicus Travers Smyth
Violet Lillian Bowmar
💍 1913/5182

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

29
30

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
3 days

St. Matthew's Church

13/4838

28 July 1913

Rev. W. E. Gillam

No	906
Date of Notice	28 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hibernicus Travers Smyth	Violet Lillian Bowmar
	💍 1913/5182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	13/4838
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam

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).