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 340

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

121

18 February 1905

Robert Rea Kirker
Charlotte Popplewell

Robert Rea Kirker
Charlotte Popplewell
💍 1905/5825

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
28

Wellington
Palmerston North

33 years
3 months

Congregation Church, Broad Street, Palmerston North

05/548

18 February 1905

Rev. S. G. Baker

No	121
Date of Notice	18 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Rea Kirker	Charlotte Popplewell
	💍 1905/5825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	33 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Congregation Church, Broad Street, Palmerston North
Folio	05/548
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. G. Baker

122

20 February 1905

Ernest Tweed Barlthorp
Kate Maude Stamfield

Ernest Tweed Barthorp
Kate Maud Stansfield
💍 1905/5916

Widower
Divorcee

Sheep Farmer

29
38

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

11 Months
15 years

St. David's Church, Petone

05/767

20 February 1905

Rev. A. Thomson

No	122
Date of Notice	20 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Tweed Barlthorp	Kate Maude Stamfield
BDM Match (90%)	Ernest Tweed Barthorp	Kate Maud Stansfield
	💍 1905/5916
Condition	Widower	Divorcee
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	29	38
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	11 Months	15 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	05/767
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

123

20 February 1905

William John Common
Jane Hunter Thomson

William John Cannon
Jane Hunter Thomson
💍 1905/5904

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

33
31

Wellington
Wellington

Life
5 weeks

St. John's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/755

20 February 1905

Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

No	123
Date of Notice	20 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Common	Jane Hunter Thomson
BDM Match (92%)	William John Cannon	Jane Hunter Thomson
	💍 1905/5904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/755
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

124

21 February 1905

Geoffrey Fairfield Morrow
Mary Evelyn Morrow

Geoffrey Fairfield
Mary Evelyn Morrow
💍 1905/5070

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

23
25

Petone
Khandallah

3 Months
3 days

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

05/1276

20 February 1905

Rev. T. H. Sprott

No	124
Date of Notice	21 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffrey Fairfield Morrow	Mary Evelyn Morrow
BDM Match (86%)	Geoffrey Fairfield	Mary Evelyn Morrow
	💍 1905/5070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Khandallah
Length of Residence	3 Months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	05/1276
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Sprott

125

21 February 1905

David White Archer
Elizabeth Minnie Archer

David White
Elizabeth Minnie Archer
💍 1905/411

Bachelor
Spinster

Corporation Employee

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
10 years

St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington

05/784

21 February 1905

Rev. T. O'Shea

No	125
Date of Notice	21 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David White Archer	Elizabeth Minnie Archer
BDM Match (81%)	David White	Elizabeth Minnie Archer
	💍 1905/411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Corporation Employee
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	05/784
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Shea

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).