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 478

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar G. G. 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

788

22 November 1905

Thomas Urvin McCord
Harriet Andrews

Thomas Urvin McCord
Harriet Andrews
💍 1905/3468

Widower
Spinster

Grocer

49
29

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
29 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/5946

22 November 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	788
Date of Notice	22 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Urvin McCord	Harriet Andrews
	💍 1905/3468
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	49	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/5946
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

789

23 November 1905

Percival Tiaroa Shelton
Emma Ruth Bentley

Percival Tiaroa Skelton
Emma Ruth Bentley
💍 1905/4634

Bachelor
Spinster

Cooper

26
21

Petone
Petone

4 years
4 years

Residence of M. F. Bentley, Jackson Street, Petone

05/5947

23 November 1905

Rev. W. Senior Cook

No	789
Date of Notice	23 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Tiaroa Shelton	Emma Ruth Bentley
BDM Match (98%)	Percival Tiaroa Skelton	Emma Ruth Bentley
	💍 1905/4634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cooper
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. F. Bentley, Jackson Street, Petone
Folio	05/5947
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Senior Cook

790

23 November 1905

Frederick John Fawcett
Florence Mary Fallon

Frederick John Fawcett
Florence Mary Fallon
💍 1905/3475

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

23
24

Brooklyn
Brooklyn

4 days
1 day

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/5969

23 November 1905

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	790
Date of Notice	23 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Fawcett	Florence Mary Fallon
	💍 1905/3475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	4 days	1 day
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/5969
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

791

24 November 1905

Walter Ross Simeon
Minola McAlpine Simeon

Walter Ross
Minola McAlpine Simeon
💍 1905/3510

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
18

Wellington
Johnsonville

25 years
18 years

Residence of F. P. Simeon, Johnsonville

05/6012

Frederick Peter Simeon, Father

24 November 1905

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	791
Date of Notice	24 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Ross Simeon	Minola McAlpine Simeon
BDM Match (81%)	Walter Ross	Minola McAlpine Simeon
	💍 1905/3510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of F. P. Simeon, Johnsonville
Folio	05/6012
Consent	Frederick Peter Simeon, Father
Date of Certificate	24 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

792

24 November 1905

Frederick John Needham
Eda Kent

Frederick John Needham
Eda Kent
💍 1905/3694

Bachelor
Spinster

Indent Merchant

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

05/6197

24 November 1905

Rev. T. H. Sprott

No	792
Date of Notice	24 November 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Needham	Eda Kent
	💍 1905/3694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Indent Merchant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	05/6197
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Sprott

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).