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 385

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar H. S. Hille

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

109

6 July 1914

Leonard Percival Bland
May Sophia Caroline Stebbing Moore

Leonard Percival Bland
May Sophia Caroline Stebbing Moore
💍 1914/1075

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Employee
Hotel Employee

34
43

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 years
14 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4768

6 July 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	109
Date of Notice	6 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Percival Bland	May Sophia Caroline Stebbing Moore
	💍 1914/1075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Employee	Hotel Employee
Age	34	43
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4768
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

110

7 July 1914

Claude Page
Violet Maud Hill

Claude Page
Violet Maud Hill
💍 1914/1074

Bachelor
Spinster

Signalman
Waitress

24
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 month
10 days

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4767

7 July 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	110
Date of Notice	7 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Page	Violet Maud Hill
	💍 1914/1074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Signalman	Waitress
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 month	10 days
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4767
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

111

11 July 1914

Thomas Isaac Houtana
Hinetangihia Aranui

Thomas Isaac Hutana
Hineitangihia Aranui
💍 1914/1076

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Waingake, Poverty Bay
Waingake

3 months
12 months

About the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4769

11 July 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	111
Date of Notice	11 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Isaac Houtana	Hinetangihia Aranui
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Isaac Hutana	Hineitangihia Aranui
	💍 1914/1076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Waingake, Poverty Bay	Waingake
Length of Residence	3 months	12 months
Marriage Place	About the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4769
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

112

13 July 1914

Robert Edward Roy Lewis
Catherine Benson

Robert Edward Roy Lewis
Catherine Benson
💍 1914/1110

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic Duties

27
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

8 years
10 years

Private residence of the brother-in-law of the bride, 216 Rutene Street, Whataupoko

4782

13 July 1914

Rev. John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister

No	112
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edward Roy Lewis	Catherine Benson
	💍 1914/1110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the brother-in-law of the bride, 216 Rutene Street, Whataupoko
Folio	4782
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister

113

13 July 1914

Robert Percival Stace
Barbara Wallace

Robert Percival Stace
Barbara Wallace
💍 1914/1109

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Saleswoman

29
31

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 months
10 months

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

4781

13 July 1914

Rev. John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister

No	113
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Percival Stace	Barbara Wallace
	💍 1914/1109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Saleswoman
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 months	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	4781
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister

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).