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 385

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

341

2 May 1905

William John Rankin
Gertrude Bishop

William John Rankin
Gertrude Bishop
💍 1905/6884

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

30
27

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
4 days

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

05/2351

2 May 1905

Rev. C. W. I. Maclaverty

No	341
Date of Notice	2 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Rankin	Gertrude Bishop
	💍 1905/6884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	05/2351
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. I. Maclaverty

342

3 May 1905

Charles Herbert Fatherley
Imgris Cecilia Manson

Charles Herbert Satherley
Ingres Cecilia Manson
💍 1905/5325

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/2302

3 May 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	342
Date of Notice	3 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Fatherley	Imgris Cecilia Manson
BDM Match (93%)	Charles Herbert Satherley	Ingres Cecilia Manson
	💍 1905/5325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/2302
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

343

3 May 1905

James Stephen Smith
Minnie Late

James Stephen Smith
Minnie Late
💍 1905/6956

Widower
Widow

Labourer

44
35

Wellington
Crofton

20 years
2 1/2 years

Residence of Mrs. Stratton, 9A Dock Street, Wellington

05/2401

3 May 1905

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	343
Date of Notice	3 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Stephen Smith	Minnie Late
	💍 1905/6956
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Crofton
Length of Residence	20 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Stratton, 9A Dock Street, Wellington
Folio	05/2401
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

344

5 May 1905

James Daykes
Fannie Isabel Mee

James Dykes
Fannie Isabel Nell
💍 1905/835

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

31
27

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
23 years

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

05/3166

5 May 1905

Rev. J. H. Sprott

No	344
Date of Notice	5 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Daykes	Fannie Isabel Mee
BDM Match (88%)	James Dykes	Fannie Isabel Nell
	💍 1905/835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	05/3166
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sprott

345

8 May 1905

Nicholas Murtagh McCarthy
Amy Williams

Nicholas Murtagh McCarthy
Amy Williams
💍 1905/6915

Ernest Wyatt
Amy Williams
💍 1905/6627

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

33
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
8 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

05/2435

8 May 1905

Rev. E. E. Kimbell

No	345
Date of Notice	8 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Murtagh McCarthy	Amy Williams
	💍 1905/6915
BDM Match (60%)	Ernest Wyatt	Amy Williams
	💍 1905/6627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	05/2435
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Kimbell

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).