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 456

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

671

29 August 1907

William McCulloch
Martha Ann Shaw

William McCulloch Brownhill
Martha Ann Shaw
💍 1907/5502

Bachelor
Widow

Builders Labourer

42
38

Petone
Petone

4 years
5 years

Residence of Rev. C. E. Ward, Sydney Street, Wellington

07/5333

29 August 1907

Rev. C. E. Ward

No	671
Date of Notice	29 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McCulloch	Martha Ann Shaw
BDM Match (82%)	William McCulloch Brownhill	Martha Ann Shaw
	💍 1907/5502
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Builders Labourer
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. E. Ward, Sydney Street, Wellington
Folio	07/5333
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward

672

29 August 1907

Sidney Daniel Richardson
Fanny Charlotte Smith

Sidney Daniel Richardson
Fanny Charlotte Smith
💍 1907/3697

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
25

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
28 years

Registrar's Office

07/5706

29 August 1907

Registrar

No	672
Date of Notice	29 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Daniel Richardson	Fanny Charlotte Smith
	💍 1907/3697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/5706
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar

673

29 August 1907

Charles Browne
Ethel Elizabeth Lever

Charles Browne
Ethel Elizabeth Lever
💍 1907/2814

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

20
19

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
1 year

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street

07/5250

Arthur William Browne (Father), Francis Lever (Father)

29 August 1907

Rev. J. Dawson

No	673
Date of Notice	29 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Browne	Ethel Elizabeth Lever
	💍 1907/2814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street
Folio	07/5250
Consent	Arthur William Browne (Father), Francis Lever (Father)
Date of Certificate	29 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

674

30 August 1907

Andrew Walmer Moran
Mary Ann Jones

Andrew Walmer Moran
Mary Ann Jones
💍 1907/7264

Andrew Wilkinson
Ann Jones
💍 1908/1514

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
Life

St. Thomas Church, Wellington

07/6905

30 August 1907

Rev. J. Salter

No	674
Date of Notice	30 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Walmer Moran	Mary Ann Jones
	💍 1907/7264
BDM Match (61%)	Andrew Wilkinson	Ann Jones
	💍 1908/1514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church, Wellington
Folio	07/6905
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Salter

675

30 August 1907

Nigel Canning Richardson
Margaret Joyce Shaw

Nigel Canning Richardson
Margaret Joyce Shaw
💍 1907/5353

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

27
31

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
3 days

St. Martin's Church, Sussex Square

07/5728

30 August 1907

Rev. J. S. S. Bartlett

No	675
Date of Notice	30 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nigel Canning Richardson	Margaret Joyce Shaw
	💍 1907/5353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Martin's Church, Sussex Square
Folio	07/5728
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. S. Bartlett

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).