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 476

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1907 Registrar Elsdon Best

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

766

October 1907

William Townsend Hunt
Anna Marie Hunt

William Townsend
Anna Marie Hunt
💍 1907/7271

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

37
30

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
3 months

St. Martin's Church, Sussex Square

07/6911

October 1907

Rev. J. G. S. Partlett

No	766
Date of Notice	October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Townsend Hunt	Anna Marie Hunt
BDM Match (88%)	William Townsend	Anna Marie Hunt
	💍 1907/7271
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Martin's Church, Sussex Square
Folio	07/6911
Consent
Date of Certificate	October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Partlett

767

October 1907

George Herbert Hoare
Alice Smith

George Herbert Hoare
Alice Smith
💍 1907/6417

William George Arthur Terry
Alice Smith
💍 1907/4246

John Carr
Alice Smith
💍 1907/4807

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

18
16

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
16 years

St. James' Church, South

07/6971

Jane Thirza Hoare (Mother), Ellen Robertson (Mother)

October 1907

Rev. W. Shirer

No	767
Date of Notice	October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Hoare	Alice Smith
	💍 1907/6417
BDM Match (67%)	William George Arthur Terry	Alice Smith
	💍 1907/4246
BDM Match (60%)	John Carr	Alice Smith
	💍 1907/4807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	18	16
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, South
Folio	07/6971
Consent	Jane Thirza Hoare (Mother), Ellen Robertson (Mother)
Date of Certificate	October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

768

October 1907

James Henry Hatchard
Emma Emily Eliza Jones

James Henry Hatchard
Emily Eliza Jones
💍 1907/7392

Widower
Widow

Carpenter

59
49

Berhampore
Lower Hutt

22 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. Arthur Dowling, Island Bay Road

07/7095

October 1907

Rev. T. K. Ewen

No	768
Date of Notice	October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Hatchard	Emma Emily Eliza Jones
BDM Match (89%)	James Henry Hatchard	Emily Eliza Jones
	💍 1907/7392
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	59	49
Dwelling Place	Berhampore	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Arthur Dowling, Island Bay Road
Folio	07/7095
Consent
Date of Certificate	October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. K. Ewen

769

October 1907

Horace Wild
Harriet Hannah Smith

Horace Wild
Harriet Hannah Smith
💍 1907/7289

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

26
26

Brooklyn
Brooklyn

3 months
3 months

St. Peter's Church

07/6930

October 1907

Rev. G. F. Davys

No	769
Date of Notice	October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Wild	Harriet Hannah Smith
	💍 1907/7289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	07/6930
Consent
Date of Certificate	October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Davys

770

October 1907

Francis Samuel Loring
Annie Maud Aplin

Francis Samuel Loring
Annie Maud Aplin
💍 1907/6431

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

31
25

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
5 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Manse, Pirie Street

07/6984

October 1907

Rev. J. R. Elliott

No	770
Date of Notice	October 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Samuel Loring	Annie Maud Aplin
	💍 1907/6431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Manse, Pirie Street
Folio	07/6984
Consent
Date of Certificate	October 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Elliott

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).