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 395

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar W. Tilley

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

150

2 October 1914

Francis Atkins
Julia Harriet Louisa Williams

Francis Atkins
Louisa Williams
💍 1914/5398

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic duties

30
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 Months
4 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

14/9310

2 October 1914

Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England, Gisborne

No	150
Date of Notice	2 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Atkins	Julia Harriet Louisa Williams
BDM Match (76%)	Francis Atkins	Louisa Williams
	💍 1914/5398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 Months	4 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	14/9310
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England, Gisborne

151

October 1914

Horace John Guest
Ethel Halsall

This was cancelled as the parties in my office refused to marry on of some misunderstandings.

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

27
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 Months
5 days

The office of the Registrar of Marriages,

No	151
Date of Notice	October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace John Guest	Ethel Halsall
BDM Match (7%)
	💍 This was cancelled as the parties in my office refused to marry on of some misunderstandings.
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 Months	5 days
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages,
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

152

5 October 1914

Thomas Oliver Baty
Olive Harriett Maud Cooper

Thomas Oliver Baty
Olive Harriett Maud Cooper
💍 1914/3873

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

25
33

Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Tiniroto, Poverty Bay

4 years
about 4 years

Private Residence of the Bride's Parents

14/7728

5 October 1914

William Raeburn, Presbyterian Minister, Wairoa H.B.

No	152
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Oliver Baty	Olive Harriett Maud Cooper
	💍 1914/3873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	25	33
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Poverty Bay	Tiniroto, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	about 4 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of the Bride's Parents
Folio	14/7728
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	William Raeburn, Presbyterian Minister, Wairoa H.B.

153

10 October 1914

Robert Morrison
Mabbo Hassard Fox

Robert Morrison
Mabbo Hassard Fox
💍 1914/3371

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

25
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

17 Months
Life

The Residence of the Bride's parents, Roberts Road, Gisborne

14/7251

10 October 1914

Frank Tucker, Presbyterian Minister, Gisborne

No	153
Date of Notice	10 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Morrison	Mabbo Hassard Fox
	💍 1914/3371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	17 Months	Life
Marriage Place	The Residence of the Bride's parents, Roberts Road, Gisborne
Folio	14/7251
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Frank Tucker, Presbyterian Minister, Gisborne

154

11 October 1914

Walter Scott
Mary Edith Clarke

Walter Scott
Mary Edith Clarke
💍 1914/3372

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 days
7 days

Church of England, Te Karaka Poverty Bay

14/7252

11 October 1914

George Norman Nelham Watson, Church of England, Gisborne

No	154
Date of Notice	11 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Scott	Mary Edith Clarke
	💍 1914/3372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Karaka Poverty Bay
Folio	14/7252
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1914
Officiating Minister	George Norman Nelham Watson, Church of England, Gisborne

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).