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 214

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar Severn

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

1221

23 September 1914

Bertram Kenneth Buchanan
Ethel Seature Smith

Bertram Kenneth Buchanan
Ethel Beatrice Hague Smith
💍 1914/1299

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
40

Auckland
Auckland

3 years

St. Andrew's Church, Auckland

14/4994

23 September 1914

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	1221
Date of Notice	23 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Kenneth Buchanan	Ethel Seature Smith
BDM Match (81%)	Bertram Kenneth Buchanan	Ethel Beatrice Hague Smith
	💍 1914/1299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	40
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Auckland
Folio	14/4994
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

1222

23 September 1914

Murdoch Buchanan
Nora Christina Stirling

Murdoch McLennan
Norah Christina Stirling
💍 1914/1300

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

40
28

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
2 years

St. Andrew's Church, Auckland

14/4995

23 September 1914

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	1222
Date of Notice	23 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdoch Buchanan	Nora Christina Stirling
BDM Match (82%)	Murdoch McLennan	Norah Christina Stirling
	💍 1914/1300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Auckland
Folio	14/4995
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

1223

23 September 1914

Richard Thomas Barlow
Irene Mildred Stockdale

Richard Thomas Catlow
Irene Mildred Stockdale
💍 1914/1396

Bachelor
Spinster

Independent Means

39
18

Auckland
Morning Side, Auckland

2 years
18 months

St. Luke's Church, Auckland

14/5066

Thomas Stockdale, father

23 September 1914

Rev. H. R. Lecks, Anglican

No	1223
Date of Notice	23 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Thomas Barlow	Irene Mildred Stockdale
BDM Match (95%)	Richard Thomas Catlow	Irene Mildred Stockdale
	💍 1914/1396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Independent Means
Age	39	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Morning Side, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Auckland
Folio	14/5066
Consent	Thomas Stockdale, father
Date of Certificate	23 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Lecks, Anglican

1224

23 September 1914

Alan George Spinley
Clara Mercy Cranston

Alan George Spinley
Clara Mercy Crauston
💍 1914/1368

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

21
21

Auckland
Auckland

Life
8 months

House of Mrs. E Reid, 104 Calliope Road, Devonport

14/5013

23 September 1914

Rev. J. E. Serfrain, Presbyterian

No	1224
Date of Notice	23 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan George Spinley	Clara Mercy Cranston
BDM Match (98%)	Alan George Spinley	Clara Mercy Crauston
	💍 1914/1368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	Life	8 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. E Reid, 104 Calliope Road, Devonport
Folio	14/5013
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Serfrain, Presbyterian

1225

23 September 1914

Henry Searley Morey
Ivy Lydia Chappell

Henry Beasley Morey
Ivy Lydia Chappell
💍 1914/1455

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk, N.Z.R.

25
21

Auckland
St. Eden

6 years
5 years

House of Mrs. Ander, King Edward Street, St. Eden

14/5124

23 September 1914

Rev. E. A. Kirwood, Baptist

No	1225
Date of Notice	23 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Searley Morey	Ivy Lydia Chappell
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Beasley Morey	Ivy Lydia Chappell
	💍 1914/1455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk, N.Z.R.
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	St. Eden
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Ander, King Edward Street, St. Eden
Folio	14/5124
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Kirwood, Baptist

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).