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 427

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1905 Registrar G. G. Hodghins, Deputy Registrar

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

543

14 August 1905

Frank Hugh Williams
Maggie May Stewart

Frank Hugh Williams
Maggie May Stuart
💍 1905/1700

Bachelor
Spinster

Produce Merchant

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
7 years

Residence of M. F. Williams, Bligh Street, Wellington

05/4283

14 August 1905

Rev. W. Shiner

No	543
Date of Notice	14 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hugh Williams	Maggie May Stewart
BDM Match (94%)	Frank Hugh Williams	Maggie May Stuart
	💍 1905/1700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Produce Merchant
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. F. Williams, Bligh Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4283
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shiner

544

14 August 1905

William Lawson
Vera Willis

William Lawson
Vera Willis
💍 1905/1686

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
20

Wellington
Johnsonville

13 years
18 years

St. John's Church, Johnsonville

05/4269

Alex James Willis, Father

14 August 1905

Rev. J. Vosper

No	544
Date of Notice	14 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lawson	Vera Willis
	💍 1905/1686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	13 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Johnsonville
Folio	05/4269
Consent	Alex James Willis, Father
Date of Certificate	14 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Vosper

545

15 August 1905

Frederic Horace Hill
Annie Harrison

Frederic Horace Hill
Annie Harrison
💍 1905/2055

James Drieberg
Annie Harrison
💍 1906/1768

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 day

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

05/4426

15 August 1905

Rev. T. H. Sprott

No	545
Date of Notice	15 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Horace Hill	Annie Harrison
	💍 1905/2055
BDM Match (60%)	James Drieberg	Annie Harrison
	💍 1906/1768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4426
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Sprott

546

15 August 1905

Henry Priddey
Catherine Hall

Henry Priddey
Catherine Hall
💍 1905/1915

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

36
32

Waikanae
Wellington

11 years
18 years

Residence of M. T. Hall, Island Bay

05/4377

15 August 1905

Rev. A. F. Tunnell

No	546
Date of Notice	15 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Priddey	Catherine Hall
	💍 1905/1915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Waikanae	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. T. Hall, Island Bay
Folio	05/4377
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Tunnell

547

15 August 1905

James Alfred Davies
Maud Mary Brown

James Alfred Davies
Maud Mary Brown
💍 1905/1665

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
19

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

5 years
17 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/4223

Charles Henry Brown, father

15 August 1905

G. G. Hodghins, Deputy Registrar

No	547
Date of Notice	15 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Davies	Maud Mary Brown
	💍 1905/1665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	5 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/4223
Consent	Charles Henry Brown, father
Date of Certificate	15 August 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodghins, Deputy Registrar

548

16 August 1905

Harold Clarke
Marie Rose Buchanan

Harold Clarke
Marie Rose Buchanan
💍 1905/2079

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk

30
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/4257

16 August 1905

Rev. G. P. Davy

No	548
Date of Notice	16 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Clarke	Marie Rose Buchanan
	💍 1905/2079
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/4257
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davy

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).