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 403

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar G. R. 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

480

23 June 1905

Herman Robert John Dockery
Violet Taylor

Herman Robert John Dockery
Violet Taylor
💍 1905/5338

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

21
20

Wellington
Wellington

2 yrs
7 yrs

Residence of Mr. J. H. Taylor, Breams Street, Wellington

05/1467

John Henry Taylor, father

23 June 1905

Rev. J. H. Glasson

No	480
Date of Notice	23 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Robert John Dockery	Violet Taylor
	💍 1905/5338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 yrs	7 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. H. Taylor, Breams Street, Wellington
Folio	05/1467
Consent	John Henry Taylor, father
Date of Certificate	23 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Glasson

481

23 June 1905

Albert Thomas Vaisey
Margaret Grace Smelaire

Albert Thomas Vaisey
Margaret Grace Sinclair
💍 1905/6979

Bachelor
Spinster

Farrier

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 wks
2 days

St. John's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/2530

23 June 1905

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	481
Date of Notice	23 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thomas Vaisey	Margaret Grace Smelaire
BDM Match (91%)	Albert Thomas Vaisey	Margaret Grace Sinclair
	💍 1905/6979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farrier
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 wks	2 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/2530
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

482

24 June 1905

Frederick Flavall
Emily Smith

Frederick Flavall
Emily Smith
💍 1905/6855

Divorced (Decree absolute 27.9.1904)
Spinster

Settler

67
34

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/2322

24 June 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	482
Date of Notice	24 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Flavall	Emily Smith
	💍 1905/6855
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 27.9.1904)	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	67	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/2322
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

483

24 June 1905

Percival Harold Wilton
Fanny Witty Partridge

Percival Harold Wilton
Fanny Witty Partridge
💍 1905/5351

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

21
29

Wellington
Wellington

2 yrs
6 mos

Residence of Mr. W. J. Wilton, Palm Grove, Wellington

05/2479

24 June 1905

Mr. A. F. Tanner

No	483
Date of Notice	24 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Harold Wilton	Fanny Witty Partridge
	💍 1905/5351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	21	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 yrs	6 mos
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. J. Wilton, Palm Grove, Wellington
Folio	05/2479
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. F. Tanner

484

24 June 1905

Ernest Marsh
Alice Maud Beehag

Ernest Marsh
Alice Maud Beahag
💍 1905/373

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas Fitter

22
23

Wellington
Kilbirnie

2 yrs
12 mos

St. James Church, Wellington South

05/2372

24 June 1905

Rev. W. Jenner

No	484
Date of Notice	24 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Marsh	Alice Maud Beehag
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Marsh	Alice Maud Beahag
	💍 1905/373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas Fitter
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	2 yrs	12 mos
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington South
Folio	05/2372
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Jenner

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).