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 411

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1908 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

421

19 May 1908

John William Dick
Mabel Jane Robertshaw

John William Dick
Mabel Jane Robertshaw
💍 1908/5250

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 months

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington

08/3774

19 May 1908

Rev. J. Paterson

No	421
Date of Notice	19 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Dick	Mabel Jane Robertshaw
	💍 1908/5250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	08/3774
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

422

19 May 1908

George Henry Graydon
Ivy May Taylor

George Henry Grayon
Ivy May Taylor
💍 1908/4611

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
7 months

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

08/3080

There is no person resident in the Dominion having authority to give consent.

4 June 1908

Rev. S. J. Serpell

No	422
Date of Notice	19 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Graydon	Ivy May Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	George Henry Grayon	Ivy May Taylor
	💍 1908/4611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	08/3080
Consent	There is no person resident in the Dominion having authority to give consent.
Date of Certificate	4 June 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Serpell

423

19 May 1908

Samuel Charles Glew
Jane Glew

Samuel Charles Glew
Jane Glew
💍 1908/4584

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
10 weeks

Residence of Mr. Francis Stewart, Mitchell Street, Brooklyn

08/3025

19 May 1908

Rev. P. C. Rennie

No	423
Date of Notice	19 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Charles Glew	Jane Glew
	💍 1908/4584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	10 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Francis Stewart, Mitchell Street, Brooklyn
Folio	08/3025
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Rennie

424

20 May 1908

John Thomas Brady
Jemima Hall Gormley

John Thomas Brady
Jemima Hall Gormley
💍 1908/4424

Bachelor
Widow 24 April 1902

Gold Assayer

22
30

Petone
Petone

8 months
8 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

08/2886

20 May 1908

Registrar

No	424
Date of Notice	20 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Brady	Jemima Hall Gormley
	💍 1908/4424
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 24 April 1902
Profession	Gold Assayer
Age	22	30
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	8 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	08/2886
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Registrar

425

20 May 1908

Albert Edward Clifford
Grace Walters

Albert Edward Clifford
Grace Walters
💍 1908/4807

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

28
17

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

12 years
7 months

Residence of Mr. J. H. Walters, Rata Street, Lower Hutt

08/3284

Joseph Henry Walters (Father)

20 May 1908

Rev. B. F. Rothwell

No	425
Date of Notice	20 May 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Clifford	Grace Walters
	💍 1908/4807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	12 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. H. Walters, Rata Street, Lower Hutt
Folio	08/3284
Consent	Joseph Henry Walters (Father)
Date of Certificate	20 May 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell

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).