Intentions to Marry, 1908 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840437, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 378

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1908 Registrar Gilbert Graham 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

261

28 March 1908

James Gibson
Ellen Frances Hibbert

James Gibson
Ellen Frances Hibbert
💍 1908/5685

Bachelor
Spinster

Tanner

46
47

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
14 years

St Paul's pro-Cathedral, Wellington

08/4223

28 March 1908

Rev. T. H. Sprott

No	261
Date of Notice	28 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gibson	Ellen Frances Hibbert
	💍 1908/5685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tanner
Age	46	47
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	08/4223
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Sprott

262

28 March 1908

Cecil Claud William Haselden
Annette Mary Hamilton Brett

Cecil Claude William Hanlon
Annette Mary Hamilton Butt
💍 1908/949

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

29
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

08/960

28 March 1908

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	262
Date of Notice	28 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Claud William Haselden	Annette Mary Hamilton Brett
BDM Match (87%)	Cecil Claude William Hanlon	Annette Mary Hamilton Butt
	💍 1908/949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	08/960
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

263

28 March 1908

Percy Withers
Hilda Mary Fitzgerald

Percival Withers
Hilda Mary Fitzgerald
💍 1908/1049

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic

21
20

Petone
Petone

3 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Petone

08/1064

Michael Fitzgerald (Father)

28 March 1908

Rev. F. G. Maples

No	263
Date of Notice	28 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Withers	Hilda Mary Fitzgerald
BDM Match (88%)	Percival Withers	Hilda Mary Fitzgerald
	💍 1908/1049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Petone
Folio	08/1064
Consent	Michael Fitzgerald (Father)
Date of Certificate	28 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Maples

264

30 March 1908

Harold Schmidt Turner
Margaret Mary O'Brien

Harold Schmidt Turner
Margaret Mary O'Brien
💍 1908/4629

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

19
18

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
7 years

Residence of Mrs J. Turner, 58 Vivian Street, Wellington

08/3075

Johanna Turner (Mother) There is no person resident in The Dominion having authority to give consent to the marriage of Margaret Mary O Brien

14 April 1908

Rev. C. J. Venning

No	264
Date of Notice	30 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Schmidt Turner	Margaret Mary O'Brien
	💍 1908/4629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Turner, 58 Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	08/3075
Consent	Johanna Turner (Mother) There is no person resident in The Dominion having authority to give consent to the marriage of Margaret Mary O Brien
Date of Certificate	14 April 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Venning

265

31 March 1908

Adolphus Henry Springhall Hodge
Widowed 10 October 1906
Marion McKay

Adolphus Henry Springhad Hodge
Marion McKay
💍 1908/1068

Widower
Spinster

Linotype Operator

41
39

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Wesleyan Methodist Church, Thorndon, Wellington

08/1084

31 March 1908

Rev. C. Porter

No	265
Date of Notice	31 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adolphus Henry Springhall Hodge Widowed 10 October 1906	Marion McKay
BDM Match (97%)	Adolphus Henry Springhad Hodge	Marion McKay
	💍 1908/1068
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator
Age	41	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Methodist Church, Thorndon, Wellington
Folio	08/1084
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Porter

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 1908. 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).