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 363

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

230

1 April 1905

Abraham Parker
Jessie Turner

Abraham Parker
Jessie Turner
💍 1905/6861

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

39
23

Petone
Petone

6 years
20 years

Church of England

05/2327

1 April 1905

Rev. I. D. Russell

No	230
Date of Notice	1 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abraham Parker	Jessie Turner
	💍 1905/6861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	05/2327
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. D. Russell

231

3 April 1905

Charles Kemp
Eliza Burgenven

Bachelor
Spinster

Detective

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church

05/2388

3 April 1905

Rev. J. R. Elliott

No	231
Date of Notice	3 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Kemp	Eliza Burgenven
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Detective
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	05/2388
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Elliott

232

3 April 1905

Antonio Bernasconi
Violet Mabel Day

Antonio Bernasconi
Violet Mabel Day
💍 1905/6964

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
2 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

05/2387

3 April 1905

Rev. J. R. Elliott

No	232
Date of Notice	3 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Antonio Bernasconi	Violet Mabel Day
	💍 1905/6964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	05/2387
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Elliott

233

3 April 1905

George John Elphick
Ada Hayres

George John Elphick
Ada Hayres
💍 1905/5320

Bachelor
Widow

Steward

30
29

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
15 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/2280

3 April 1905

Deputy Registrar

No	233
Date of Notice	3 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Elphick	Ada Hayres
	💍 1905/5320
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Steward
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/2280
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

234

3 April 1905

William Henry Potts
Alice Maud Cummings

William Henry Potts
Alice Maude Cumings
💍 1905/1895

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
33

Wellington
Tawa Flat

1 year
14 years

Residence of B. Cummings, Harrowvale, Tawa Flat

05/4365

3 April 1905

Rev. I. Dawson

No	234
Date of Notice	3 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Potts	Alice Maud Cummings
BDM Match (95%)	William Henry Potts	Alice Maude Cumings
	💍 1905/1895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Tawa Flat
Length of Residence	1 year	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of B. Cummings, Harrowvale, Tawa Flat
Folio	05/4365
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Dawson

235

4 April 1905

Walter Ernest Tomlin
Ellen Stroper

Walter Ernest Tomlin
Ellen Hooper
💍 1905/1896

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

29
30

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
7 days

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

05/4366

4 April 1905

Rev. I. Dawson

No	235
Date of Notice	4 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Ernest Tomlin	Ellen Stroper
BDM Match (88%)	Walter Ernest Tomlin	Ellen Hooper
	💍 1905/1896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4366
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Dawson

236

4 April 1905

Herbert Ernest Cloutt
Alice Maud Fawcett

Herbert Ernest Cloutt
Alice Maud Fawcett
💍 1905/6905

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
25

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

24 years
25 years

Wesleyan Church, Lower Hutt

05/2450

4 April 1905

Rev. S. J. Garlick

No	236
Date of Notice	4 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Ernest Cloutt	Alice Maud Fawcett
	💍 1905/6905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	24 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	05/2450
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Garlick

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).