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 797

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar William Henry Potts

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

10 January 1914

Charles Armstrong
Evelyn Cophead

Fred Armstrong
Evelyn Byrne
💍 1914/5924

Bachelor
Spinster

Bridge Builder
Nurse

25
22

Parawai
Parawai

3 days
5 years

In the house of Mr R. Coshead, Parawai

1205

10 January 1914

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	10 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Armstrong	Evelyn Cophead
BDM Match (64%)	Fred Armstrong	Evelyn Byrne
	💍 1914/5924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bridge Builder	Nurse
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Parawai
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr R. Coshead, Parawai
Folio	1205
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

19 January 1914

Thomas Gillan
Margaret Edith Rosie Andrew

Thomas Gillan
Margaret Edith Rosie Andrew
💍 1914/7368

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner Manager
Domestic duties

39
31

Thames
Thames

2 days
31 years

In the house of Mr Ferguson, Beach Road, Thames

1206

21 January 1914

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gillan	Margaret Edith Rosie Andrew
	💍 1914/7368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner Manager	Domestic duties
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	31 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Ferguson, Beach Road, Thames
Folio	1206
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

21 January 1914

William George Rolton
Lizzie Henere

William George Rolton
Lizzie Henare
💍 1914/7145

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

25
21

Thames
Thames

25 years
3 years

In the Church of England, Parawai

878

24 January 1914

Timoti Manuera, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Rolton	Lizzie Henere
BDM Match (96%)	William George Rolton	Lizzie Henare
	💍 1914/7145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England, Parawai
Folio	878
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Timoti Manuera, Church of England

26 January 1914

Richard Henry McGregor
Sarah Thompson

Richard Henry McGregor
Sarah Thompson
💍 1914/7369

Richard Henry Worsfold
Clara Eva Thompson
💍 1914/3732

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Waitress

30
26

Thames
Thames

30 years
2 days

In the Presbyterian Manse, Rolleston Street, Thames

1207

28 January 1914

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	26 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry McGregor	Sarah Thompson
	💍 1914/7369
BDM Match (67%)	Richard Henry Worsfold	Clara Eva Thompson
	💍 1914/3732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Waitress
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	2 days
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Manse, Rolleston Street, Thames
Folio	1207
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

27 January 1914

William Mitchell
Lilian Roberts

William Mitchell
Lilian Roberts
💍 1914/7149

Jack Warren Doddrell
Lilian Roberts
💍 1915/8750

Widower, 1 October 1910
Spinster

Canvasser
Domestic duties

62
43

Thames
Thames

2 days
2 days

In the house of Mr Roberts, Edward St, Thames

882

29 January 1914

Adjutant Gray, Salvation Army

No	5
Date of Notice	27 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mitchell	Lilian Roberts
	💍 1914/7149
BDM Match (63%)	Jack Warren Doddrell	Lilian Roberts
	💍 1915/8750
Condition	Widower, 1 October 1910	Spinster
Profession	Canvasser	Domestic duties
Age	62	43
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Roberts, Edward St, Thames
Folio	882
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Adjutant Gray, Salvation Army

5 February 1914

William Charles Reid
Myrtle Guilliam

William Charles Reid
Myrtle Gwilliam
💍 1914/7370

Widower, 2 October 1885
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

54
16

Thames
Thames

45 years
16 years

In the house of John William Guilliam, Queen Street, Thames

1208

John William Guilliam, father of bride

5 February 1914

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	5 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Reid	Myrtle Guilliam
BDM Match (97%)	William Charles Reid	Myrtle Gwilliam
	💍 1914/7370
Condition	Widower, 2 October 1885	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	54	16
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	45 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John William Guilliam, Queen Street, Thames
Folio	1208
Consent	John William Guilliam, father of bride
Date of Certificate	5 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

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).