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 364

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

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

237

4 April 1905

Gilbert James Felix Patten
Elizabeth Caroline Pope

Gilbert James Felix Patten
Elizabeth Caroline Pope
💍 1905/5327

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerker

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
15 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/2281

Henry Fuller Pope

4 April 1905

Deputy Registrar

No	237
Date of Notice	4 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert James Felix Patten	Elizabeth Caroline Pope
	💍 1905/5327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerker
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/2281
Consent	Henry Fuller Pope
Date of Certificate	4 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

238

5 April 1905

Alexander Scott
Lottie Bayfield Clark

Alexander Scott
Lottie Mayfield Clark
💍 1905/6966

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

32
32

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
Life

Residence of Mr. T. W. Witt, 28 McFarlane Street, Wellington

05/2389

5 April 1905

Rev. J. R. Elliott

No	238
Date of Notice	5 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Scott	Lottie Bayfield Clark
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Scott	Lottie Mayfield Clark
	💍 1905/6966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. W. Witt, 28 McFarlane Street, Wellington
Folio	05/2389
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Elliott

239

5 April 1905

Anthony Martin Shalab
Sarah Anderson

Anthony Martin Shaal
Sarah Anderson
💍 1905/7040

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Guard

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
12 years

St. Andrews Church, Wellington Terrace, Wellington

05/2412

5 April 1905

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	239
Date of Notice	5 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Martin Shalab	Sarah Anderson
BDM Match (95%)	Anthony Martin Shaal	Sarah Anderson
	💍 1905/7040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Wellington Terrace, Wellington
Folio	05/2412
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

240

5 April 1905

Duncan Duff
Ethel Willon

Duncan Duff
Ethel Wilton
💍 1905/828

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. W. Willon, Wilton Estate, Berhampore, Wellington

05/3160

5 April 1905

Rev. F. Shiner

No	240
Date of Notice	5 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Duff	Ethel Willon
BDM Match (96%)	Duncan Duff	Ethel Wilton
	💍 1905/828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Willon, Wilton Estate, Berhampore, Wellington
Folio	05/3160
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Shiner

241

5 April 1905

Thomas Augustus Smith
Edith Isabella Oliver

Thomas Augustus Smith
Edith Isabella Oliver
💍 1905/5328

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
21

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
5 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/2282

5 April 1905

Deputy Registrar

No	241
Date of Notice	5 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Augustus Smith	Edith Isabella Oliver
	💍 1905/5328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/2282
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

242

5 April 1905

Tom Eastcoll
Alma Ellen Watkins

Tom Eastcott
Alma Ellen Watkins
💍 1905/7273

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

40
35

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
2 years

St. James Church, Lower Hutt

05/2359

5 April 1905

Rev. Joshua Jones

No	242
Date of Notice	5 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Eastcoll	Alma Ellen Watkins
BDM Match (92%)	Tom Eastcott	Alma Ellen Watkins
	💍 1905/7273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	05/2359
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joshua Jones

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 1908. 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).