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 455

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

666

27 August 1907

William Currivan
Lillian Burridge

William Currivan Sharon
Lillian Burridge
💍 1907/5381

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
24

Petone
Petone

6 years
20 years

Anglican Church, Petone

07/5756

27 August 1907

Rev. J. W. Russell

No	666
Date of Notice	27 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Currivan	Lillian Burridge
BDM Match (85%)	William Currivan Sharon	Lillian Burridge
	💍 1907/5381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Petone
Folio	07/5756
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Russell

667

28 August 1907

James Henry Neill
Mary Winifred Hollins

James Henry Neill
Mary Winifred Rollins
💍 1907/5340

Widower
Spinster

Platelayer

39
29

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
9 months

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street

07/5739

28 August 1907

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	667
Date of Notice	28 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Neill	Mary Winifred Hollins
BDM Match (98%)	James Henry Neill	Mary Winifred Rollins
	💍 1907/5340
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street
Folio	07/5739
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

668

28 August 1907

Herbert George Hist
Winefred Dagmar Nye

Herbert George Risk
Winifred Dagmar Nye
💍 1907/5722

Bachelor
Divorced

Clerk

31
40

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
18 months

Residence of Mr. W. D. Nye, 52 Murphy St.

07/5729

28 August 1907

Rev. C. Porter

No	668
Date of Notice	28 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert George Hist	Winefred Dagmar Nye
BDM Match (92%)	Herbert George Risk	Winifred Dagmar Nye
	💍 1907/5722
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Clerk
Age	31	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. D. Nye, 52 Murphy St.
Folio	07/5729
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Porter

669

28 August 1907

Hugh Hutchison McDonald
Helena Elizabeth Lines

Hugh Hutchison McDonald
Helena Elizabeth Lines
💍 1907/5375

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

6 weeks
4 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace

07/5173

28 August 1907

Rev. J. R. Elliott

No	669
Date of Notice	28 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Hutchison McDonald	Helena Elizabeth Lines
	💍 1907/5375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace
Folio	07/5173
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Elliott

670

28 August 1907

Albert Egmont Ritson
Elizabeth Jane Gill

Albert Egmont Ritson
Elizabeth Jane Gill
💍 1907/5493

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
17 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street

07/5323

28 August 1907

Rev. F. W. Fairclough

No	670
Date of Notice	28 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Egmont Ritson	Elizabeth Jane Gill
	💍 1907/5493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street
Folio	07/5323
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Fairclough

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).