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 425

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

524

1 July 1907

Alfred George Furby
Sarah Elizabeth Boardley

Alfred George Furby
Sarah Elizabeth Boardley
💍 1907/5333

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
6 months

St. Mark's Church

07/5124

1 July 1907

Rev. J. S. Bartlett

No	524
Date of Notice	1 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Furby	Sarah Elizabeth Boardley
	💍 1907/5333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	07/5124
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Bartlett

525

1 July 1907

Edward James Shearme
Margaret Ethel Satchell

Edward James Shearme
Margaret Ethel Satchell
💍 1907/5364

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

29
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
4 days

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Manse, 26 Pirie Street

07/5763

Georgina Sarah Satchell (Mother)

1 July 1907

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	525
Date of Notice	1 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Shearme	Margaret Ethel Satchell
	💍 1907/5364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Manse, 26 Pirie Street
Folio	07/5763
Consent	Georgina Sarah Satchell (Mother)
Date of Certificate	1 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

526

1 July 1907

George Edward Burton
Edith Emma Semmens

George Edward Burton
Edith Emma Semmens
💍 1907/5334

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

34
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Peter's Church

07/5733

1 July 1907

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	526
Date of Notice	1 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Burton	Edith Emma Semmens
	💍 1907/5334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	07/5733
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

527

1 July 1907

Thomas Twist Sparkes
Elizabeth Mary Woods

Thomas Twist Sparkes
Elizabeth Mary Woods
💍 1907/5357

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman

29
28

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

4 months
5 weeks

St. James' Church

07/5732

1 July 1907

Rev. J. Jones

No	527
Date of Notice	1 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Twist Sparkes	Elizabeth Mary Woods
	💍 1907/5357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	4 months	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. James' Church
Folio	07/5732
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Jones

528

1 July 1907

William Hutchinson
Holly Maud Boyd

William Hutchinson
Holly Maude Boyd
💍 1907/5323

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist Assistant

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

1 1/2 years
1 1/2 years

Registrar's Office

07/5071

1 July 1907

Registrar

No	528
Date of Notice	1 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hutchinson	Holly Maud Boyd
BDM Match (97%)	William Hutchinson	Holly Maude Boyd
	💍 1907/5323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist Assistant
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/5071
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar

529

3 July 1907

Alfred Mark Ralph De Costa
Ethel Rebecca Benjamin

Alfred Mark Ralph De Costa
Ethel Rebecca Benjamin
💍 1907/5433

Bachelor
Spinster

Sharebroker

36
31

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
1 month

Synagogue

07/5252

3 July 1907

Rev. C. Pitrow

No	529
Date of Notice	3 July 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Mark Ralph De Costa	Ethel Rebecca Benjamin
	💍 1907/5433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sharebroker
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Synagogue
Folio	07/5252
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Pitrow

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).