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 420

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

508

26 July 1905

David Melville Blair
Catherine Anne Rintoul

David Melville Blair
Catherine Annie Audney Rintoul
💍 1905/7261

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

31
29

Hutt
Petone

16 months
11 years

Residence of Mr. F. Wright, Lower Tery Street, Wellington

05/4281

26 July 1905

Rev. W. Skinner

No	508
Date of Notice	26 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Melville Blair	Catherine Anne Rintoul
BDM Match (87%)	David Melville Blair	Catherine Annie Audney Rintoul
	💍 1905/7261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Petone
Length of Residence	16 months	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. F. Wright, Lower Tery Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4281
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Skinner

509

26 July 1905

Arthur Edward Harrowfield
Ruby Helen Dixon

Arthur Edward Harronfield
Ruby Helen Dixon
💍 1905/1703

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
8 years

St. Marths Church, Sussey Square, Wellington

05/4263

26 July 1905

Rev. R. Coffey

No	509
Date of Notice	26 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Harrowfield	Ruby Helen Dixon
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Edward Harronfield	Ruby Helen Dixon
	💍 1905/1703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Marths Church, Sussey Square, Wellington
Folio	05/4263
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

510

26 July 1905

Alexander Poudge
Gertrude Backhouse

Alexander Budge
Gertrude Backhouse
💍 1905/2076

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron Moulder

29
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 months

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/4254

26 July 1905

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	510
Date of Notice	26 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Poudge	Gertrude Backhouse
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Budge	Gertrude Backhouse
	💍 1905/2076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron Moulder
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4254
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

511

26 July 1905

Charles Henry Hathaway
Frances Myrtle Norgate

Charles Henry Hathaway
Frances Myrtle Norgate
💍 1905/1680

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
18

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
3 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

05/4214

William Norgate, Father

26 July 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	511
Date of Notice	26 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Hathaway	Frances Myrtle Norgate
	💍 1905/1680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	05/4214
Consent	William Norgate, Father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

512

27 July 1905

Clarence Edward Buckingham
Edith Minnie Abbott

Clarance Edward Buckingham
Edith Minnie Abbott
💍 1905/1681

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer

24
19

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

24 years
19 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

05/4215

William Abbott, Father

27 July 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	512
Date of Notice	27 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Edward Buckingham	Edith Minnie Abbott
BDM Match (98%)	Clarance Edward Buckingham	Edith Minnie Abbott
	💍 1905/1681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	24 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	05/4215
Consent	William Abbott, Father
Date of Certificate	27 July 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

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).