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 273

District of Whanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar W. Bales

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

19 January 1905

William George Gichard
Melanie Louisa Benson

William George Gichard
Melanie Louisa Benson
💍 1905/5871

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z. Rly

23
21

Aramoho
Whanganui

3 years 6 months
5 years

St John's Church of England

05/619

19 January 1905

J. B. Maclean, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	19 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Gichard	Melanie Louisa Benson
	💍 1905/5871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z. Rly
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Aramoho	Whanganui
Length of Residence	3 years 6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England
Folio	05/619
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1905
Officiating Minister	J. B. Maclean, Church of England

21 January 1905

Hugh Adams Carter
Gladys Jones

Hugh Adams
Gladys Jones
💍 1905/120

Bachelor
Spinster

21
24

Whanganui
Sedgebrook

2 years 6 months
1 week

In the residence of Mr Joseph Jones, Sedgebrook

05/610

21 January 1905

R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	21 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Adams Carter	Gladys Jones
BDM Match (79%)	Hugh Adams	Gladys Jones
	💍 1905/120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Sedgebrook
Length of Residence	2 years 6 months	1 week
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr Joseph Jones, Sedgebrook
Folio	05/610
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1905
Officiating Minister	R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

23 January 1905

Thomas Umfrey Stockwell
Annie Maude Young

Thomas Umfrey Stockwell
Annie Maud Young
💍 1905/111

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

27
23

Whanganui
Karanagarora

3 days
10 years

In the residence of Mr John Reid, Karanagarora

05/602

23 January 1905

J. Ross, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	23 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Umfrey Stockwell	Annie Maude Young
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Umfrey Stockwell	Annie Maud Young
	💍 1905/111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Karanagarora
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr John Reid, Karanagarora
Folio	05/602
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1905
Officiating Minister	J. Ross, Presbyterian

25 January 1905

Edward Duncan Lavell
Jessie Young

Edward Duncan Lavell
Jessie Young
💍 1905/5793

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Whanganui
Whanganui

1 year
10 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Whanganui

05/589

25 January 1905

John Bates, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	25 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Duncan Lavell	Jessie Young
	💍 1905/5793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Whanganui
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Whanganui
Folio	05/589
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1905
Officiating Minister	John Bates, Registrar

27 January 1905

Ernest Healey
Florence Crane

Ernest Healey
Florence Crane
💍 1905/112

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

26
23

Whanganui
Whanganui

3 days
3 years

In the residence of Mr J. R. Crane, No 2 Line

05/603

27 January 1905

A. Dewdney, Baptist

No	11
Date of Notice	27 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Healey	Florence Crane
	💍 1905/112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Whanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr J. R. Crane, No 2 Line
Folio	05/603
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1905
Officiating Minister	A. Dewdney, Baptist

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).