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 397

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar Henry Ewart Hill

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

160

17 October 1914

Wallace Main
Maud Gibson

Wallace Main
Maud Gibson
💍 1914/3341

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Lady's Companion

34
29

Ormond, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

4 years
2 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

14/7220

17 October 1914

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	160
Date of Notice	17 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Main	Maud Gibson
	💍 1914/3341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Lady's Companion
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Ormond, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	14/7220
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

161

19 October 1914

William Craig Smith
Kathleen Walsh

William Craig Smith
Kathleen Walsh
💍 1914/3342

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

23
21

Gisborne
Mangapapa, Poverty Bay

7 years
Life

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

14/7221

19 October 1914

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	161
Date of Notice	19 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Craig Smith	Kathleen Walsh
	💍 1914/3342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Mangapapa, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	14/7221
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

162

19 October 1914

Thomas Hugh Pearce
Lorna Annie Beehre

Thomas Hugh Pearce
Lorna Annie Beehre
💍 1914/3363

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

33
21

Whatahatutu, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

12 years
9 months

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

14/7243

19 October 1914

John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister, Gisborne

No	162
Date of Notice	19 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hugh Pearce	Lorna Annie Beehre
	💍 1914/3363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Whatahatutu, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	14/7243
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1914
Officiating Minister	John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister, Gisborne

163

26 October 1914

Alfred Taylor
Cecile Ellen Page

Alfred Taylor
Cecelia Ellen Page
💍 1914/6479

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Dressmaker

28
29

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
3 years

Private Residence of the Bride's Mother, 115 Carnarvon Street, Gisborne

14/9280

26 October 1914

Percy John Hainwright, Baptist Minister, Gisborne

No	163
Date of Notice	26 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Taylor	Cecile Ellen Page
BDM Match (92%)	Alfred Taylor	Cecelia Ellen Page
	💍 1914/6479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Dressmaker
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of the Bride's Mother, 115 Carnarvon Street, Gisborne
Folio	14/9280
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Percy John Hainwright, Baptist Minister, Gisborne

164

26 October 1914

Brungar George Stutchbury Signall
Lydia Conradine Harris

Brungar George Stutchburg Signall
Lydia Conradine Harris
💍 1914/3369

Bachelor
Spinster

County Clerk (Wairoa)
Home duties

26
20

Gisborne
Hangarora, Poverty Bay

6 days
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

14/7249

Sophia Louisa Harris, Mother, Hangarora, Poverty Bay, Widow

26 October 1914

Henry Thomas Rannoley, Church of England, Gisborne

No	164
Date of Notice	26 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Brungar George Stutchbury Signall	Lydia Conradine Harris
BDM Match (99%)	Brungar George Stutchburg Signall	Lydia Conradine Harris
	💍 1914/3369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	County Clerk (Wairoa)	Home duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Hangarora, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	6 days	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	14/7249
Consent	Sophia Louisa Harris, Mother, Hangarora, Poverty Bay, Widow
Date of Certificate	26 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Henry Thomas Rannoley, 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).

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).