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 458

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1907 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

681

2 September 1907

Robert Francis Smith
Kathleen McGregor Fraser

Robert Francis Smith
Kathleen McGregor Fraser
💍 1907/5403

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister & Solicitor

34
26

Petone
Wellington

3 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. T. S. Mayer, 10 Brougham Street

07/5778

2 September 1907

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	681
Date of Notice	2 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Francis Smith	Kathleen McGregor Fraser
	💍 1907/5403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. S. Mayer, 10 Brougham Street
Folio	07/5778
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

682

2 September 1907

Harry Hugo Tombs
Beatrice Atkinson

Harry Hugo Tombs
Beatrice Atkinson
💍 1907/5454

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Manager

33
35

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
3 years

Unitarian Church, Masonic Hall, Boulcott Street

07/5259

2 September 1907

Rev. Tudor Jones

No	682
Date of Notice	2 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hugo Tombs	Beatrice Atkinson
	💍 1907/5454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Manager
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Unitarian Church, Masonic Hall, Boulcott Street
Folio	07/5259
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tudor Jones

683

2 September 1907

Joseph Shaw
Mary McBride

Joseph Shaw
Mary McBride
💍 1907/3739

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

38
30

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
10 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street

07/5223

2 September 1907

Rev. T. O'Shea

No	683
Date of Notice	2 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Shaw	Mary McBride
	💍 1907/3739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street
Folio	07/5223
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Shea

684

2 September 1907

Ernest Lionel Holland
Aubina Eliza Haines

Ernest Lionel Holland
Rubina Eliza Haines
💍 1907/5341

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

26
20

Wellington
Rhandallah

2 1/2 years
7 months

St. Barnabas Church

07/5740

Alfred George Haines (Father)

2 September 1907

Rev. E. W. J. McConnel

No	684
Date of Notice	2 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Lionel Holland	Aubina Eliza Haines
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Lionel Holland	Rubina Eliza Haines
	💍 1907/5341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Rhandallah
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church
Folio	07/5740
Consent	Alfred George Haines (Father)
Date of Certificate	2 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. J. McConnel

685

3 September 1907

James Francis Duggan
Mary Ann Quill

James Francis Duggan
Mary Anne Quill
💍 1907/5409

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mailer

25
24

Petone
Wellington

3 months
18 months

Roman Catholic Church

07/5234

3 September 1907

Rev. F. G. Maples

No	685
Date of Notice	3 September 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Duggan	Mary Ann Quill
BDM Match (97%)	James Francis Duggan	Mary Anne Quill
	💍 1907/5409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mailer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	07/5234
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Maples

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).