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 357

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

145

26 February 1906

Archibald Duncan Bain
Mary Anne Corr

Archibald Duncan
Mary Ann Corr
💍 1906/2018

Bachelor
Spinster

Customs Officer

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

5 yrs
10 yrs

Registrars Office Wellington

06/638

26 February 1906

G. G. Hodgkins Deputy Registrar

No	145
Date of Notice	26 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Duncan Bain	Mary Anne Corr
BDM Match (85%)	Archibald Duncan	Mary Ann Corr
	💍 1906/2018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Customs Officer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 yrs	10 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	06/638
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1906
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins Deputy Registrar

146

26 February 1906

John McGill
Phoebe Harvey

John McGill
Phoebe Harvey
💍 1906/2157

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

30
24

Petone
Petone

18 yrs
5 yrs

Catholic Church Petone

06/1776

26 February 1906

Rev F. G. Maples

No	146
Date of Notice	26 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGill	Phoebe Harvey
	💍 1906/2157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	18 yrs	5 yrs
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Petone
Folio	06/1776
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev F. G. Maples

147

26 February 1906

John Hare
Rebecca Jane North

John Hare
Rebecca Jane North
💍 1906/1158

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

40
33

Wellington
Wellington

4 yrs
7 yrs

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

06/2479

26 February 1906

Rev J. R. Elliott

No	147
Date of Notice	26 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hare	Rebecca Jane North
	💍 1906/1158
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 yrs	7 yrs
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	06/2479
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Elliott

148

26 February 1906

George Pearse
Isabella Mary Riddell

George Pearse
Isabella Mary Riddell
💍 1906/2019

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

6 wks
4 days

Registrars Office Wellington

06/639

26 February 1906

G. G. Hodgkins Deputy Registrar

No	148
Date of Notice	26 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pearse	Isabella Mary Riddell
	💍 1906/2019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 wks	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	06/639
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1906
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins Deputy Registrar

149

27 February 1906

William Palmer Collins
Isabella Campbell Thomson

William Palmer Collins
Isabella Campbell Thomson
💍 1906/2298

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

42
27

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
5 yrs

St Johns Church Willis Street Wellington

06/745

27 February 1906

Rev J. Gibb D.D.

No	149
Date of Notice	27 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Palmer Collins	Isabella Campbell Thomson
	💍 1906/2298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	42	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	5 yrs
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	06/745
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Gibb D.D.

150

27 February 1906

Elgar Nathaniel George Poulson
Alexina Bern

Elgan Nathaniel George Poulton
Alexina Bern
💍 1906/2297

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

Life
7 yrs

St-John Church Willis Street Wellington

06/744

27 February 1906

Rev J. Gibb D.D.

No	150
Date of Notice	27 February 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elgar Nathaniel George Poulson	Alexina Bern
BDM Match (97%)	Elgan Nathaniel George Poulton	Alexina Bern
	💍 1906/2297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	7 yrs
Marriage Place	St-John Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	06/744
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Gibb D.D.

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).