Intentions to Marry, 1905 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840428, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 189

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar Robt. N. Keeling

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

4 April 1905

George Edwin William Walker
Phyllis Blackey

George Edwin William Walker
Phyllis Blackey
💍 1905/283

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

18 months
3 years

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

05/2200

4 April 1905

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	27
Date of Notice	4 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edwin William Walker	Phyllis Blackey
	💍 1905/283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	05/2200
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

10 April 1905

Theodore Neumann
Marion Buglass

Theodore Neumann
Marion Bugloss
💍 1905/7166

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28 years
26 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

At the house of Hugo Neumann, Palmerston North

05/2572

10 April 1905

Revd Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

No	28
Date of Notice	10 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Neumann	Marion Buglass
BDM Match (96%)	Theodore Neumann	Marion Bugloss
	💍 1905/7166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the house of Hugo Neumann, Palmerston North
Folio	05/2572
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Revd Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister, Palmerston North

10 April 1905

Joseph Ernest Wingate
Gertrude Grace Griggs

Joseph Ernest Wingate
Gertrude Grace Griggs
💍 1905/266

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27 years
24 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

24 years
20 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

05/2207

10 April 1905

Revd C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	29
Date of Notice	10 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ernest Wingate	Gertrude Grace Griggs
	💍 1905/266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	05/2207
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Revd C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

12 April 1905

Sidney Charles Wheelock McClure
Hilda Grace Irene Kerley

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant

22 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 months
6 weeks

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

not solemnized

12 April 1905

Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	30
Date of Notice	12 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Charles Wheelock McClure	Hilda Grace Irene Kerley
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	not solemnized
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Robt. N. Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

17 April 1905

Francis Edward Woods
Elizabeth Ellen Lane

Francis Edmund Woods
Elizabeth Ellen Lane
💍 1905/267

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

26 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
21 years

St. Peter's Church, Palmerston North

05/2208

17 April 1905

Revd C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	31
Date of Notice	17 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edward Woods	Elizabeth Ellen Lane
BDM Match (93%)	Francis Edmund Woods	Elizabeth Ellen Lane
	💍 1905/267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	05/2208
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Revd C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

19 April 1905

Harrie Charles Carrington
Bridget Hanagan

Harrie Charles Carrington
Bridget Flanagan
💍 1905/824

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

32 years
23 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

15 months
2 years

St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

05/3156

19 April 1905

Revd P. W. Lyons, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

No	32
Date of Notice	19 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harrie Charles Carrington	Bridget Hanagan
BDM Match (94%)	Harrie Charles Carrington	Bridget Flanagan
	💍 1905/824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	32 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	05/3156
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Revd P. W. Lyons, Catholic Priest, Palmerston North

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 1903. 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).