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 454

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1905 Registrar M. R. Hodghins

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

667

7 October 1905

Ernest Anthony Shadwell Killick
Edith Anna Townsend

Ernest Anthony Shadwell Killick
Edith Anna Townsend
💍 1905/3393

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
31

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
2 1/2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/5918

7 October 1905

G. J. Hodghins, Deputy Registrar

No	667
Date of Notice	7 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Anthony Shadwell Killick	Edith Anna Townsend
	💍 1905/3393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/5918
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1905
Officiating Minister	G. J. Hodghins, Deputy Registrar

668

9 October 1905

Arthur Robert Ven Lodder
Susan Halcrow

Arthur Robert Ven Lodder
Susan Halcrow
💍 1905/3540

Widower
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

52
45

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
9 years

Residence of Mr. Lodder, 169 Willis Street, Wellington

05/6042

9 October 1905

Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

No	668
Date of Notice	9 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Robert Ven Lodder	Susan Halcrow
	💍 1905/3540
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	52	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Lodder, 169 Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/6042
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

669

9 October 1905

Sidney Wyndham Fitzherbert
Annie Muriel Waldegrave

Sidney Wyndham Fitzherbert
Annie Muriel Waldegrave
💍 1905/3684

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
2 1/2 years

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

05/6188

9 October 1905

Rev. T. H. Sprott

No	669
Date of Notice	9 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Wyndham Fitzherbert	Annie Muriel Waldegrave
	💍 1905/3684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	05/6188
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Sprott

670

9 October 1905

Charles John Dunlop Bennett
Edith Alice Foster

Charles John Dunlop Bennett
Edith Alice Foster
💍 1905/3484

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

30
26

Wellington
Lower Hutt

3 days
12 years

St. James Church, Lower Hutt

05/5986

9 October 1905

Rev. J. Jones

No	670
Date of Notice	9 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Dunlop Bennett	Edith Alice Foster
	💍 1905/3484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	05/5986
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Jones

671

9 October 1905

John Daniel Delahenty
Robertina Helen Higgins

John Daniel Delahunty
Robertina Helen Higgins
💍 1905/3464

Bachelor
Spinster

Collector

35
33

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
12 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/5965

9 October 1905

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	671
Date of Notice	9 October 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daniel Delahenty	Robertina Helen Higgins
BDM Match (98%)	John Daniel Delahunty	Robertina Helen Higgins
	💍 1905/3464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Collector
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/5965
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

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).