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 695

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar M. H. Marker

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

8 December 1905

Raymond Fitzmaurice
Dorothea McGurk

Raymond Fitzmaurice
Dorothea McGurk
💍 1905/3779

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

24
22

Reefton
Greymouth

24 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth

05/6310

8 December 1905

Rev. James Taylor

No	54
Date of Notice	8 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Fitzmaurice	Dorothea McGurk
	💍 1905/3779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Greymouth
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	05/6310
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Taylor

11 December 1905

Richard Oswel Speed
Emily Isabel Elizabeth Gamble

Richard Oswell Speed
Emily Isabel Elizabeth Gamble
💍 1905/3774

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

31 years
23 years

Westbrook
Kumara

4 months
3 months

The Church of England, Greymouth

05/6306

11 December 1905

Rev. G. W. York

No	55
Date of Notice	11 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Oswel Speed	Emily Isabel Elizabeth Gamble
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Oswell Speed	Emily Isabel Elizabeth Gamble
	💍 1905/3774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	31 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Westbrook	Kumara
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	05/6306
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

11 December 1905

Albert Edward Olsen
Wilhelmina Stephenson

Albert Edward Olsen
Wilhelmina Stephenson
💍 1905/3780

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic

27
18

Kokiri
Kokiri

4 years
13 years

The private Residence of Thomas Stephenson, Kokiri

05/6311

William Thomas Stephenson, Father

Rev. H. S. Barnett

No	56
Date of Notice	11 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Olsen	Wilhelmina Stephenson
	💍 1905/3780
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Kokiri	Kokiri
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	The private Residence of Thomas Stephenson, Kokiri
Folio	05/6311
Consent	William Thomas Stephenson, Father
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Barnett

19 December 1905

Edward Richardson
Jane Hamilton

Edward Richardson
Jane Hamilton
💍 1905/3778

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

24
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

24 years
22 years

The private Residence of William Hamilton, Marsden Road, Greymouth

05/6309

Rev. R. Stewart

No	57
Date of Notice	19 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Richardson	Jane Hamilton
	💍 1905/3778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The private Residence of William Hamilton, Marsden Road, Greymouth
Folio	05/6309
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Stewart

19 December 1905

George Herbert Thomson
Mary Isabella O'Neill

George Herbert Thomson
Mary Isabella O'Neill
💍 1905/3803

Bachelor
Spinster

Yardman
Domestic

23
23

Kokiri
Kokiri

3 years
7 years

Roman Catholic Church, Maori Gully

05/6336

Rev. D. Leen

No	58
Date of Notice	19 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Thomson	Mary Isabella O'Neill
	💍 1905/3803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Yardman	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Kokiri	Kokiri
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Maori Gully
Folio	05/6336
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Leen

28 December 1905

Christopher Rhodes
Mary Ann Boyle

Christopher Rhodes
Mary Ann Boyle
💍 1905/3775

Minor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

21
22

Blackball
Blackball

6 days in Greymouth
6 days in Greymouth

Trinity Church, Greymouth

05/6307

Rev. G. W. York

No	59
Date of Notice	28 December 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Rhodes	Mary Ann Boyle
	💍 1905/3775
Condition	Minor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	6 days in Greymouth	6 days in Greymouth
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	05/6307
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

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).