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 352

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

181

13 March 1905

Walter Moray Strand
Bessie Isobel Hislop

Walter Moray Shand
Bessie Mabel Hislop
💍 1905/5908

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
8 years

St Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/759

13 March 1905

Rev J. Gibb D.D.

No	181
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Moray Strand	Bessie Isobel Hislop
BDM Match (87%)	Walter Moray Shand	Bessie Mabel Hislop
	💍 1905/5908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	8 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/759
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Gibb D.D.

182

13 March 1905

Henry Edward Sagers
Susan Ellen Taylor

Henry Edward Sayers
Susan Ellen Taylor
💍 1905/5964

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
23

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
8 years

Residence of Mr. Kearney, 7 Martin Street, Wellington

05/818

13 March 1905

Rev J. Dawson

No	182
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Sagers	Susan Ellen Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Edward Sayers	Susan Ellen Taylor
	💍 1905/5964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Kearney, 7 Martin Street, Wellington
Folio	05/818
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Dawson

183

13 March 1905

Benjamin Disraeli Wigton
Charlotte Jane Brain

Benjamin Disrach Wigton
Charlotte Jane Bain
💍 1905/144

Bachelor
Widow

Master Mariner

30
39

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
5 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

05/766

13 March 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	183
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Disraeli Wigton	Charlotte Jane Brain
BDM Match (91%)	Benjamin Disrach Wigton	Charlotte Jane Bain
	💍 1905/144
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	30	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	05/766
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

184

13 March 1905

William John Friston
Edith Gendall

William John Skilton
Edith Gendall
💍 1905/5909

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

29
20

Masterton
Wellington

6 months
9 months

St. Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/760

John Gendall, Father

13 March 1905

Rev J. Gibb D.D.

No	184
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Friston	Edith Gendall
BDM Match (93%)	William John Skilton	Edith Gendall
	💍 1905/5909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/760
Consent	John Gendall, Father
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Gibb D.D.

185

14 March 1905

Kenneth Duncan McKenzie
Hannah Bella McKay

Kenneth Duncan McKenzie
Hannah Bella McKay
💍 1905/5917

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr. McKay, 43 Aro Street, Wellington

05/768

14 March 1905

Rev R. Wood

No	185
Date of Notice	14 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Duncan McKenzie	Hannah Bella McKay
	💍 1905/5917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. McKay, 43 Aro Street, Wellington
Folio	05/768
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Wood

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).