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 808

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar William Henry Rotto

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

27 July 1914

Ernest John Williams
Anna Gladys Comer

Ernest John Williams
Anna Gladys Comer
💍 1914/1559

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

30
22

Thames
Thames

30 years
22 years

St Georges Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames

5255

27 July 1914

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	27 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Williams	Anna Gladys Comer
	💍 1914/1559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	5255
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

27 July 1914

James Thomas Stoddart
Violet Bird

James Stoddart Thomas
Violet Bird
💍 1914/1557

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Fitter
Dressmaker

26
25

Thames
Thames

3 days
25 years

In St Georges Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames

5253

28 July 1914

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	27 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Stoddart	Violet Bird
BDM Match (71%)	James Stoddart Thomas	Violet Bird
	💍 1914/1557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Fitter	Dressmaker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In St Georges Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	5253
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

30 July 1914

Frederick Hughes
Clara Myrtle Trotter

Frederick Hughes
Clara Myrtle Trotter
💍 1914/1647

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic

27
26

Thames
Waiomo

5 days
26 years

In the house of Mrs Trotter, Waiomo

5242

30 July 1914

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	30 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hughes	Clara Myrtle Trotter
	💍 1914/1647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Waiomo
Length of Residence	5 days	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Trotter, Waiomo
Folio	5242
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

4 August 1914

Richard Phillips
Jean Singleton

Richard Phillips
Jean Singleton
💍 1914/1648

Widower
Spinster

Boilermaker
Tailoress

30
27

Thames
Thames

7 months
2 months

In the house of Rev J Milne, Rolleston Terrace, Thames

5243

4 August 1914

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	4 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Phillips	Jean Singleton
	💍 1914/1648
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Tailoress
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 months	2 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev J Milne, Rolleston Terrace, Thames
Folio	5243
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

11 August 1914

Joseph Albert Quinn
Poppy Matilda Bennett

Joseph Albert Quinn
Poppy Matilda Bennett
💍 1914/1655

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic Duties

26
22

Turua
Thames

6 months
4 days

In the Registrars Office, Mary Street, Thames

5250

11 August 1914

William H Potts, Registrar

No	52
Date of Notice	11 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Albert Quinn	Poppy Matilda Bennett
	💍 1914/1655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Turua	Thames
Length of Residence	6 months	4 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	5250
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1914
Officiating Minister	William H Potts, Registrar

17 August 1914

Percy Theophilus Hill
Ella Virginia Bennett

Percy Thoephilus Hill
Ella Virginia Bennett
💍 1914/1558

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery hand
Domestic Duties

22
24

Thames
Thames

22 years
24 years

Church of England, Papanui, Thames

5254

17 August 1914

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	53
Date of Notice	17 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Theophilus Hill	Ella Virginia Bennett
BDM Match (95%)	Percy Thoephilus Hill	Ella Virginia Bennett
	💍 1914/1558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery hand	Domestic Duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Papanui, Thames
Folio	5254
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

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).