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 025

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

21 January 1913

Patrick Thomas Sillings
Beatrice Mary Swansbrough

Patrick Thomas Billings
Beatrice Mary Swansbrough
💍 1913/4705

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Fitter

27
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
5 months

St. Andrews Church

13/4283

21 January 1913

Rev. Wilkinson

No	92
Date of Notice	21 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Thomas Sillings	Beatrice Mary Swansbrough
BDM Match (98%)	Patrick Thomas Billings	Beatrice Mary Swansbrough
	💍 1913/4705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Fitter
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	13/4283
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wilkinson

21 January 1913

Thomas Nicholls
Edith Rowe

Thomas Nicholls
Edith Rowe
💍 1913/1048

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

25
30

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
3 months

St. Matthew's Church

13/432

21 January 1913

Rev. R. F. Ellam

No	93
Date of Notice	21 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Nicholls	Edith Rowe
	💍 1913/1048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	13/432
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Ellam

22 January 1913

Harry Lethbridge Abell
Elizabeth Phillip Abell

Harry Lethbridge Abell
Elizabeth Phillip Abell
💍 1913/4818

Bachelor
Widow

Warehouseman

49
40

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
3 years

St. Andrew's Church

13/4302

22 January 1913

Rev. A. A. Murray

No	94
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Lethbridge Abell	Elizabeth Phillip Abell
	💍 1913/4818
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	49	40
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	13/4302
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray

22 January 1913

Claude Winburn Henry Lay
Kate Emily Newberry

Claude Wimburn Henry Jay
Kate Emily Newberry
💍 1913/645

Bachelor
Widow

Engineer

39
37

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
6 months

Registrar's Office

13/24

22 January 1913

Registrar

No	95
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Winburn Henry Lay	Kate Emily Newberry
BDM Match (96%)	Claude Wimburn Henry Jay	Kate Emily Newberry
	💍 1913/645
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engineer
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	13/24
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

22 January 1913

James Hall
Elizabeth Jackson

James Hall
Elizabeth Jackson
💍 1913/646

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

30
21

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
Life

Registrar's Office

13/25

22 January 1913

Registrar

No	96
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hall	Elizabeth Jackson
	💍 1913/646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	13/25
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

22 January 1913

John Little
Margaret Clark Everett Livingstone

John Little
Margaret Clark Everett Livingstone
💍 1913/654

Bachelor
Divorced

Labourer

35
38

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
9 months

Registrar's Office

13/26

22 January 1913

Registrar

No	97
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Little	Margaret Clark Everett Livingstone
	💍 1913/654
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	13/26
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

22 January 1913

Arthur Henry Collins
Eliza Jane Sheppard

Arthur Henry Worth Collins
Eliza Jane Sheppard
💍 1913/1070

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

30
30

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
1 year

Primitive Methodist Church

13/454

22 January 1913

Rev. Joephert

No	98
Date of Notice	22 January 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Collins	Eliza Jane Sheppard
BDM Match (88%)	Arthur Henry Worth Collins	Eliza Jane Sheppard
	💍 1913/1070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church
Folio	13/454
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joephert

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).