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 410

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

459

4 July 1905

Frederick William Howell Davidson
Edith Kathleen Mooney

Frederick William Howell Davidson
Clair Kathleen Mooney
💍 1905/2091

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
6 years

St. Anne's Church, Wellington

05/4320

4 July 1905

Rev J. Ainsworth

No	459
Date of Notice	4 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Howell Davidson	Edith Kathleen Mooney
BDM Match (88%)	Frederick William Howell Davidson	Clair Kathleen Mooney
	💍 1905/2091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Wellington
Folio	05/4320
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Ainsworth

460

5 July 1905

Edmund James Foster
Katherine Cecilia Riordan

Edmund James Foster
Katherine Cecilia Riordan
💍 1905/2092

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
3 months

St. Anne's Church, Wellington

05/4321

Margaret Riordan, mother

5 July 1905

Rev J. Ainsworth

No	460
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund James Foster	Katherine Cecilia Riordan
	💍 1905/2092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Wellington
Folio	05/4321
Consent	Margaret Riordan, mother
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Ainsworth

461

5 July 1905

John Rennie Dawson
Alice Robinson Dawson

John Rennie
Alice Robinson Dawson
💍 1905/1648

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 12/4/05)

Baker

40
25

Wellington
Wellington

15 months
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/4205

5 July 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	461
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rennie Dawson	Alice Robinson Dawson
BDM Match (81%)	John Rennie	Alice Robinson Dawson
	💍 1905/1648
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 12/4/05)
Profession	Baker
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/4205
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

462

5 July 1905

Thomas Henry Finnerly
Annie Josephine Finnerly

Thomas Henry
Annie Josephine Finnerty
💍 1905/2100

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

30
32

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
2 years

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

05/4328

5 July 1905

Rev E. E. Kimbell

No	462
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Finnerly	Annie Josephine Finnerly
BDM Match (76%)	Thomas Henry	Annie Josephine Finnerty
	💍 1905/2100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4328
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev E. E. Kimbell

463

5 July 1905

Walter Bain Larkin
Ethel Kate Carroll

Walter Fair Larkin
Ethel Kate Carroll
💍 1905/2098

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
20

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
3 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

05/4327

John Carroll, father

5 July 1905

Rev T. O'Shea

No	463
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Bain Larkin	Ethel Kate Carroll
BDM Match (94%)	Walter Fair Larkin	Ethel Kate Carroll
	💍 1905/2098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4327
Consent	John Carroll, father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev T. O'Shea

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 1908. 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).