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 341

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

126

22 February 1905

William Firth
Lily Louise Maud Kirk

William Firth
Lily Louisa Maud Kirk
💍 1905/152

Bachelor
Widow

Foreman

26
30

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/648

22 February 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	126
Date of Notice	22 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Firth	Lily Louise Maud Kirk
BDM Match (98%)	William Firth	Lily Louisa Maud Kirk
	💍 1905/152
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Foreman
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/648
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

127

22 February 1905

Edward John Lines
Elsie May Lusty

Edward John Lines
Elsie May Lusty
💍 1905/153

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/649

No person to give consent

8 March 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	127
Date of Notice	22 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Lines	Elsie May Lusty
	💍 1905/153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/649
Consent	No person to give consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

128

23 February 1905

Leonard Thomas King
Ellen O'Neil

Leonard Thomas King
Ellen O'Neil
💍 1905/5967

Bachelor
Widow

Musician

39
37

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
29 years

Residence of Mr. Crawford, Crawford Terrace, Wellington

05/798

23 February 1905

Rev. P. W. Fairclough

No	128
Date of Notice	23 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Thomas King	Ellen O'Neil
	💍 1905/5967
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Musician
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Crawford, Crawford Terrace, Wellington
Folio	05/798
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Fairclough

129

23 February 1905

John Pane
Ethel Gutterbuck

John Paul
Ethel Sybil Clutterbuck
💍 1905/5968

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
20

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

4 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. J. Gutterbuck, Johnsonville

05/799

James Gutterbuck, Father

23 February 1905

Rev. G. S. Cook

No	129
Date of Notice	23 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pane	Ethel Gutterbuck
BDM Match (72%)	John Paul	Ethel Sybil Clutterbuck
	💍 1905/5968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Gutterbuck, Johnsonville
Folio	05/799
Consent	James Gutterbuck, Father
Date of Certificate	23 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook

130

23 February 1905

John Ponsford
Florence Willson

John Ponsford
Florence Willson
💍 1905/154

Widower
Spinster

Builder & Contractor

50
30

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
6 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

05/650

23 February 1905

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	130
Date of Notice	23 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ponsford	Florence Willson
	💍 1905/154
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder & Contractor
Age	50	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	05/650
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1905
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).