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 444

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1907 Registrar G. H. Dodgshun

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

611

5 August 1907

Ernest George Short
Eliza Procter

Ernest George Short
Eliza Brooker
💍 1907/5386

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

24
23

Brooklyn
Wellington

life
life

St. James' Presbyterian Church, Wellington

07/5785

5 August 1907

Rev. W. Sherer

No	611
Date of Notice	5 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Short	Eliza Procter
BDM Match (88%)	Ernest George Short	Eliza Brooker
	💍 1907/5386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	life
Marriage Place	St. James' Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	07/5785
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Sherer

612

5 August 1907

Herbert Frank Preston
Grace Evelyn Bowden

Herbert Frank Preston
Grace Evelyn Bowden
💍 1907/5338

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
30

Karori
Wellington

2 years
11 months

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

07/5737

5 August 1907

Rev. G. F. Davys

No	612
Date of Notice	5 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Frank Preston	Grace Evelyn Bowden
	💍 1907/5338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Karori	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	11 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	07/5737
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Davys

613

6 August 1907

Albert Victor Theobald
Louise Evelyn Hopkinson

Albert Victor Theobald
Louisa Evelyn Hopkinson
💍 1907/5430

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
26

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt

07/5231

6 August 1907

Rev. J. J. Lane

No	613
Date of Notice	6 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Victor Theobald	Louise Evelyn Hopkinson
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Victor Theobald	Louisa Evelyn Hopkinson
	💍 1907/5430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	07/5231
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane

614

6 August 1907

William Edward Corbett
Florence Mary Kiernan

William Edward Corbett
Florence Mary Kiernan
💍 1907/2801

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

20
15

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
15 years

Registrar's Office

07/5093

Michael William Corbett (Father) and Frederick Archibald Kiernan (Father)

6 August 1907

Registrar

No	614
Date of Notice	6 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Corbett	Florence Mary Kiernan
	💍 1907/2801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	20	15
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	07/5093
Consent	Michael William Corbett (Father) and Frederick Archibald Kiernan (Father)
Date of Certificate	6 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Registrar

615

7 August 1907

Joseph Haywood Strawbridge
Irene Zita Pearce

Joseph Haywood Strawbridge
Irene Zita Pearce
💍 1907/3732

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
9 weeks

St. Joseph's Church, Buckley Street

07/5217

7 August 1907

Rev. C. J. Venning

No	615
Date of Notice	7 August 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Haywood Strawbridge	Irene Zita Pearce
	💍 1907/3732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	9 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckley Street
Folio	07/5217
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Venning

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).