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 332

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkin, Deputy Registrar

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

1 February 1905

George Alfred Charles Burnett
Ada Jane Leeson

George Alfred Charles Durnett
Ada Jane Leeson
💍 1905/4917

Bachelor
Spinster

Paper Ruler

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
3 years

Residence of Rev J. K. Eliott, 25 Pine Street, Wellington

05/737

1 February 1905

Rev J. K. Eliott

No	81
Date of Notice	1 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Charles Burnett	Ada Jane Leeson
BDM Match (98%)	George Alfred Charles Durnett	Ada Jane Leeson
	💍 1905/4917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Paper Ruler
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J. K. Eliott, 25 Pine Street, Wellington
Folio	05/737
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Eliott

2 February 1905

Gerald Fitzgerald Pharasyn
Maud Eleanor Pharasyn

Gerald Fitzgerald
Maud Eleanor Pharazyn
💍 1905/5889

Widower
Widow

Civil Engineer

47
45

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
11 Months

St. Mary's Church, Karori, Wellington

05/689

2 February 1905

Rev A. L. Mansell

No	82
Date of Notice	2 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Fitzgerald Pharasyn	Maud Eleanor Pharasyn
BDM Match (80%)	Gerald Fitzgerald	Maud Eleanor Pharazyn
	💍 1905/5889
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Civil Engineer
Age	47	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	11 Months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori, Wellington
Folio	05/689
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev A. L. Mansell

2 February 1905

Bernard Albert Guise
Annie Bourke

Bernard Albert Guise
Annie Burke
💍 1905/7266

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
5 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

05/782

2 February 1905

Rev J. Tymons

No	83
Date of Notice	2 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Albert Guise	Annie Bourke
BDM Match (96%)	Bernard Albert Guise	Annie Burke
	💍 1905/7266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	05/782
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Tymons

3 February 1905

Edwin James Carter
Mabel Selma Schuster

Edwin James Carter
Mabel Selma Schuster
💍 1905/7257

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman

28
25

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

28 years
14 years

Residence of Mr. Schuster, Blomfield Road, Lower Hutt

05/763

3 February 1905

Rev W. Marshall

No	84
Date of Notice	3 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin James Carter	Mabel Selma Schuster
	💍 1905/7257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	28 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Schuster, Blomfield Road, Lower Hutt
Folio	05/763
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Marshall

3 February 1905

Alfred William Joseph Williams
Annie Florence Claxton

Alfred William Joseph Williams
Annie Florence Claxton
💍 1905/5970

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
7 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

05/801

3 February 1905

Rev A. B. Redstone

No	85
Date of Notice	3 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Joseph Williams	Annie Florence Claxton
	💍 1905/5970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	05/801
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev A. B. Redstone

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).