Intentions to Marry, 1914 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840454, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 379

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar F. G. Gwill

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

26 May 1914

Roderick Arthur Mead
Kate Eve Turnwald

Roderick Arthur Mead
Katie Eve Turnwald
💍 1914/9237

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Household Duties

27
26

Gisborne
Mangapapa

7 years
6 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

14/4302

26 May 1914

Rev. Leslie Lawson Thomas, Church of England

No	86
Date of Notice	26 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Arthur Mead	Kate Eve Turnwald
BDM Match (97%)	Roderick Arthur Mead	Katie Eve Turnwald
	💍 1914/9237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Household Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Mangapapa
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	14/4302
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Lawson Thomas, Church of England

28 May 1914

Edward Henry Ashworth
Mary O'Donovan

Edward Henry Ashworth
Mary O'Donovan
💍 1914/5504

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Waitress

24
28

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 days
4 days

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

14/3051

28 May 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	87
Date of Notice	28 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Ashworth	Mary O'Donovan
	💍 1914/5504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Waitress
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	14/3051
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

28 May 1914

Sylvester Herbert Guinness Richmond
Lillian Alice Holleday

Sylvester Herbert Guiness Richmond
Lilian Alice Halliday
💍 1914/9024

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

45
30

Pukahu, Gisborne
Motu

20 years
3 weeks

Private residence of the brother of the bridegroom, W. P. Richmond, Motu

14/4093

28 May 1914

Rev. George Norman Welham Watson, Church of England, Te Karaka

No	88
Date of Notice	28 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sylvester Herbert Guinness Richmond	Lillian Alice Holleday
BDM Match (92%)	Sylvester Herbert Guiness Richmond	Lilian Alice Halliday
	💍 1914/9024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	30
Dwelling Place	Pukahu, Gisborne	Motu
Length of Residence	20 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Private residence of the brother of the bridegroom, W. P. Richmond, Motu
Folio	14/4093
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Norman Welham Watson, Church of England, Te Karaka

1 June 1914

Henry Costello Carroll Perston
Hylda Martin

Henry Costello Carroll Perston
Hylda Martin
💍 1914/9029

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Housemaid

23
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

23 years
2 months

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

14/4098

1 June 1914

Rev. John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister

No	89
Date of Notice	1 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Costello Carroll Perston	Hylda Martin
	💍 1914/9029
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Housemaid
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	23 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	14/4098
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister

2 June 1914

Bayzill Burdett Hoache
Grace Winifred Jones

Bayzill Burdett Hacche
Grace Winifred Jones
💍 1914/9248

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

24
23

Gisborne
Hexton, Whataupoko

Life
3 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

14/4303

2 June 1914

Rev. Leslie Lawson Thomas, Church of England

No	90
Date of Notice	2 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bayzill Burdett Hoache	Grace Winifred Jones
BDM Match (95%)	Bayzill Burdett Hacche	Grace Winifred Jones
	💍 1914/9248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Hexton, Whataupoko
Length of Residence	Life	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	14/4303
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Lawson Thomas, Church of England

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).