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 487

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

832

9 December 1905

William Charles Weile
Evelyn Gertinde Walton

William Charles White
Evelyn Gertrude Walton
💍 1905/4635

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

24
26

Petone
Petone

18 months
4 years

Residence of Mr Angus Richmond Street Petone

05/7132

9 December 1905

Rev. A. Thomson

No	832
Date of Notice	9 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Weile	Evelyn Gertinde Walton
BDM Match (91%)	William Charles White	Evelyn Gertrude Walton
	💍 1905/4635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	18 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Angus Richmond Street Petone
Folio	05/7132
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

833

9 December 1905

James Sands Elliott
Annie Allan Forbes

James Sands Elliott
Annie Allan Forbes
💍 1905/3517

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
4 days

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

05/6018

9 December 1905

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	833
Date of Notice	9 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sands Elliott	Annie Allan Forbes
	💍 1905/3517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	05/6018
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

834

12 December 1905

Charles Hedley Vickers
Fanny Walpole Tonlson

Charles Hedley Vickers
Fanny Walpole Toulsom
💍 1905/3493

Widower
Widow

Settler

40
43

Khandallah
Khandallah

3 days
7 years

Church of England Khandallah

05/5971

12 December 1905

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	834
Date of Notice	12 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hedley Vickers	Fanny Walpole Tonlson
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Hedley Vickers	Fanny Walpole Toulsom
	💍 1905/3493
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Settler
Age	40	43
Dwelling Place	Khandallah	Khandallah
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Khandallah
Folio	05/5971
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

835

11 December 1905

Albert Edwin Briggs
Ethel Farquharson Gray

Albert Edwin Briggs
Ethel Farquharson Gray
💍 1905/3740

Bachelor
Spinster

Shorthand Writer

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
24 years

Residence of Mr G. Gray 67A Webb Street Wellington

05/6263

11 December 1905

Rev. J. J. Franklyn

No	835
Date of Notice	11 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edwin Briggs	Ethel Farquharson Gray
	💍 1905/3740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shorthand Writer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr G. Gray 67A Webb Street Wellington
Folio	05/6263
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Franklyn

836

11 December 1905

Charles Dix
Annie Lowry

Charles Dix
Annie Lowry
💍 1905/3453

Bachelor
Spinster

Ships Officer

32
38

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
6 weeks

Registrar's Office Wellington

05/5955

11 December 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	836
Date of Notice	11 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Dix	Annie Lowry
	💍 1905/3453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ships Officer
Age	32	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	05/5955
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 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 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).