Intentions to Marry, 1907 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840434, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1907 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1907a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1907b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1907c).

Page 355

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar Gilbert Graham 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

211

16 March 1907

Thomas Michael Burke
Ellen Winnifred Colle

Thomas Michael Burke
Ethel Winnifred Cottle
💍 1907/4776

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

26
25

Petone
Wellington

6 years
25 years

St. Paul's Pro Cathedral

07/4216

16 March 1907

Rev. J. H. Sprott

No	211
Date of Notice	16 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Michael Burke	Ellen Winnifred Colle
BDM Match (89%)	Thomas Michael Burke	Ethel Winnifred Cottle
	💍 1907/4776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro Cathedral
Folio	07/4216
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sprott

212

19 March 1907

Charles Magnus Ulrick Holmstrom
Violet Margaret Henderson

Charles Magnus Ulrick Holmstrom
Violet Margaret Henderson
💍 1907/670

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

43
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
6 weeks

Residence of Mr. Hansen, 36 Clyde Quay

07/757

19 March 1907

Rev. J. H. Elliott

No	212
Date of Notice	19 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Magnus Ulrick Holmstrom	Violet Margaret Henderson
	💍 1907/670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hansen, 36 Clyde Quay
Folio	07/757
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Elliott

213

19 March 1907

William Hutton
Harriett Ann Tilyard

William Hutton
Harriett Ann Tilyard
💍 1907/706

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

26
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
8 years

St. Peter's Church

07/797

19 March 1907

Rev. G. G. Davys

No	213
Date of Notice	19 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hutton	Harriett Ann Tilyard
	💍 1907/706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	07/797
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Davys

214

19 March 1907

Charles Henry Spring
Lilian Maud Stone

Charles Henry Spring
Jilian Maud Stone
💍 1907/769

Divorced (Decree absolute 30 January 1905)
Spinster

Driver

34
27

Wellington
Miramar

23 years
16 years

Congregational Church, Constable Street

07/853

19 March 1907

Rev. W. A. Evans

No	214
Date of Notice	19 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Spring	Lilian Maud Stone
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Henry Spring	Jilian Maud Stone
	💍 1907/769
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 30 January 1905)	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Miramar
Length of Residence	23 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Constable Street
Folio	07/853
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Evans

215

19 March 1907

George Wyeth
Louisa Amelia Williams

George Wyeth
Louisa Amelia Williams
💍 1907/856

Bachelor
Widow (September 1906)

Laborer

22
25

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

22 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

07/948

19 March 1907

Deputy Registrar

No	215
Date of Notice	19 March 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wyeth	Louisa Amelia Williams
	💍 1907/856
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (September 1906)
Profession	Laborer
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	22 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	07/948
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1907
Officiating Minister	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).