Intentions to Marry, 1906 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840431, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1906 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1906a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1906b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1906c).

Page 466

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1906 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

665

18 September 1906

Frank Perrett
Margaret Florence Palethorpe

Frank Perrett
Margaret Florence Palethorpe
💍 1906/7616

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 6/4/1906)

Carter

33
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 Months
18 Months

Residence of H. Perrett, 43 Martin Square, Wellington

06/14789

18 September 1906

Rev. J. Dawson

No	665
Date of Notice	18 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Perrett	Margaret Florence Palethorpe
	💍 1906/7616
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 6/4/1906)
Profession	Carter
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Months	18 Months
Marriage Place	Residence of H. Perrett, 43 Martin Square, Wellington
Folio	06/14789
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

666

18 September 1906

Edward England
Sophia Nisbet

Edward England
Sophia Nisbet
💍 1906/4538

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
23

Hutt
Hutt

35 years
5 years

Kent Terrace Church Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

06/4483

18 September 1906

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	666
Date of Notice	18 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward England	Sophia Nisbet
	💍 1906/4538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	35 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Church Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	06/4483
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

667

19 September 1906

Charles Collier Smithson
Elizabeth Bruce

Charles Collier Smithson
Elizabeth Bruce
💍 1906/4544

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

41
39

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
17 days

St. John's Church, Wellington

06/4489

19 September 1906

Rev. J. Gibb W.W.

No	667
Date of Notice	19 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Collier Smithson	Elizabeth Bruce
	💍 1906/4544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	41	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	17 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	06/4489
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb W.W.

668

19 September 1906

Charles Alexander Gordon
Ethel Louisa Arnold

Charles Alexander Gordon
Ethel Louisa Arnold
💍 1906/4451

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

29
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
23 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

06/4542

19 September 1906

Rev. A. P. N. Fairclough

No	668
Date of Notice	19 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alexander Gordon	Ethel Louisa Arnold
	💍 1906/4451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	06/4542
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. N. Fairclough

669

19 September 1906

George Henry Scarse
Maude Lydia Moore

George Henry Scarse
Maude Lydia Moore
💍 1906/1381

Bachelor
Spinster

Professor of Languages

47
26

Wellington
Wellington

13 days
13 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

06/4438

19 September 1906

G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

No	669
Date of Notice	19 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Scarse	Maude Lydia Moore
	💍 1906/1381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Professor of Languages
Age	47	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 days	13 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	06/4438
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1906
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Deputy Registrar

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).