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 703

District of Raglan Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar George Stacey Fuller

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

198

12 October 1914

Alexander Gordon
Lillian Mary Langley

Alexander Gordon
Lillian Mary Langley
💍 1914/3636

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

34
29

Raglan
Raglan

[illegible] years
27 years

At the residence of Mr. R. Langley, Raglan

14/7516

12 October 1914

Rev. G. Carr, Raglan

No	198
Date of Notice	12 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Gordon	Lillian Mary Langley
	💍 1914/3636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Raglan	Raglan
Length of Residence	[illegible] years	27 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. R. Langley, Raglan
Folio	14/7516
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Carr, Raglan

199

28 October 1914

Albert Edward Shea
Rosa Ann Billington

Albert Edward Shea
Rosa Ann Billington
💍 1914/5385

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
20

Te Mata
Te Mata

18 years
20 years

At the residence of Mr. R. Billington, Te Mata

14/9316

Robert Billington, guardian

28 October 1914

Rev. Alfred Drake, Hamilton

No	199
Date of Notice	28 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Shea	Rosa Ann Billington
	💍 1914/5385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Te Mata	Te Mata
Length of Residence	18 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. R. Billington, Te Mata
Folio	14/9316
Consent	Robert Billington, guardian
Date of Certificate	28 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Drake, Hamilton

200

17 November 1914

Thomas Fredrick Wightman
Ellen Brown

Thomas Frederick Wightman
Ellen Brown
💍 1914/3634

Arthur Cecil Bowman
Ellen Brown
💍 1914/2317

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

32
23

Te Mata
Te Mata

3 days
23 years

At the residence of Mr. R. Brown, Te Mata

14/7514

17 November 1914

Rev. J. P. Lynch, Kihikihi

No	200
Date of Notice	17 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Fredrick Wightman	Ellen Brown
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Frederick Wightman	Ellen Brown
	💍 1914/3634
BDM Match (65%)	Arthur Cecil Bowman	Ellen Brown
	💍 1914/2317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Te Mata	Te Mata
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. R. Brown, Te Mata
Folio	14/7514
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Lynch, Kihikihi

201

23 November 1914

Philip Stanley Smith
Ethel Mary Hastings

Philip Stanley Smith
Ethel Mary Hastings
💍 1914/5386

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
26

Waitetuna
Waitetuna

[illegible] years
3 days

Anglican Church, Te Uku

14/9317

23 November 1914

Rev. E. M. Cowie, Hamilton

No	201
Date of Notice	23 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Stanley Smith	Ethel Mary Hastings
	💍 1914/5386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Waitetuna	Waitetuna
Length of Residence	[illegible] years	3 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Te Uku
Folio	14/9317
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. M. Cowie, Hamilton

202

23 December 1914

George Richard Beckett McKie
Elsie Letitia Saunders

George Richard Beckett McKie
Elsie Letitia Saunders
💍 1914/3635

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic Duties

28
20

Raglan
Te Mata

5 years
20 years

At the residence of Mr. W. J. Saunders, Te Mata

14/7515

William Jackson Saunders, father

23 December 1914

Rev. G. Carr, Raglan

No	202
Date of Notice	23 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Richard Beckett McKie	Elsie Letitia Saunders
	💍 1914/3635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic Duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Raglan	Te Mata
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. W. J. Saunders, Te Mata
Folio	14/7515
Consent	William Jackson Saunders, father
Date of Certificate	23 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Carr, Raglan

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).