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 326

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

21 January 1905

Thomas Naughton
Margaret Gwen MacReynolds

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman R.N.B.A.

21
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 Months
14 days

St. Josephs Church, Wellington

05/786

21 January 1905

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	51
Date of Notice	21 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Naughton	Margaret Gwen MacReynolds
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman R.N.B.A.
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 Months	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Church, Wellington
Folio	05/786
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

24 January 1905

Amos Baker
Annie Maria Hughes

Amos Baker
Annie Maria Hughes
💍 1905/4884

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
24

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
24 years

Residence of Mr. Baker, College Street, Wellington

05/830

24 January 1905

Mr. N. Turner

No	52
Date of Notice	24 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Amos Baker	Annie Maria Hughes
	💍 1905/4884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Baker, College Street, Wellington
Folio	05/830
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Mr. N. Turner

24 January 1905

Robert Faire Parnell
Susan Harriet Parnell

Robert Faire
Susan Harriet Parnell
💍 1905/5068

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman

24 years
17 years

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
4 years

St. Pauls Pro Cathedral, Wellington

05/1274

Henry Williams, father of bride

24 January 1905

Rev. H. T. Stealey

No	53
Date of Notice	24 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Faire Parnell	Susan Harriet Parnell
BDM Match (80%)	Robert Faire	Susan Harriet Parnell
	💍 1905/5068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman
Age	24 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	05/1274
Consent	Henry Williams, father of bride
Date of Certificate	24 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Stealey

24 January 1905

Fredolph Nathaniel Norling
Annie Florence Mason

Fredolf Nathaniel Norling
Annie Florence Mason
💍 1905/4868

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21
25

Wadestown
Wellington

21 years
12 years

Residence of Mr. J. Hicking, 4 Mein Street, Wellington

05/717

24 January 1905

Rev. W. Shirer

No	54
Date of Notice	24 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredolph Nathaniel Norling	Annie Florence Mason
BDM Match (96%)	Fredolf Nathaniel Norling	Annie Florence Mason
	💍 1905/4868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Wadestown	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Hicking, 4 Mein Street, Wellington
Folio	05/717
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

24 January 1905

Allan Aislabie Corbett
Maud Alice Corbett

Allan Aislabie
Maud Alice Corbett
💍 1905/5861

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
1 year

Registrars Office, Wellington

05/7633

24 January 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	55
Date of Notice	24 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Aislabie Corbett	Maud Alice Corbett
BDM Match (82%)	Allan Aislabie	Maud Alice Corbett
	💍 1905/5861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	05/7633
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).