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 367

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

206

10 March 1908

Harry Spencer Sivell
Nellie Kestle Bullock

Harry Spencer Sirrll
Nelliw Kestle Bullock
💍 1908/945

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

33
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
22 years

St. Peters Church, Wellington

08/957

10 March 1908

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	206
Date of Notice	10 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Spencer Sivell	Nellie Kestle Bullock
BDM Match (93%)	Harry Spencer Sirrll	Nelliw Kestle Bullock
	💍 1908/945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	08/957
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

207

10 March 1908

George Jefferson Belt
Lillian Annie Susan Phelps

George Jefferson Balt
Lillian Annie Susan Phelps
💍 1908/1106

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35
32

Wellington
Rona Bay

4 years
Life

Residence of Mr. Barnet Phelps, Rona Bay

08/1098

10 March 1908

Rev. J. P. Glasson

No	207
Date of Notice	10 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Jefferson Belt	Lillian Annie Susan Phelps
BDM Match (98%)	George Jefferson Balt	Lillian Annie Susan Phelps
	💍 1908/1106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Rona Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Barnet Phelps, Rona Bay
Folio	08/1098
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Glasson

208

10 March 1908

Leo Stephen Fanning
Jessie Doig Duff Edmondstone

Leo Stephen Fanning
Jessie Doig Duff Edmondstone
💍 1908/861

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

29
29

Wellington
Wanganui

2 years
12 months

Residence of Mrs. Isabella Edmondstone, 107 Bell Street, Wanganui

08/850

10 March 1908

Rev. A. S. Wilson

No	208
Date of Notice	10 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Stephen Fanning	Jessie Doig Duff Edmondstone
	💍 1908/861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Isabella Edmondstone, 107 Bell Street, Wanganui
Folio	08/850
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Wilson

209

10 March 1908

Charles Henry Geange
widowed 31 January 1905
Eleanor Maud Bentley

Charles Henry Geange
Eleanor Maud Bentley
💍 1908/917

Widower
Spinster

Contractor

27
30

Trentham
Trentham

Life
6 months

Anglican Church, Trentham

08/929

10 March 1908

Rev. Cecil J. Smith

No	209
Date of Notice	10 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Geange widowed 31 January 1905	Eleanor Maud Bentley
	💍 1908/917
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Trentham
Length of Residence	Life	6 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Trentham
Folio	08/929
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Cecil J. Smith

210

11 March 1908

William Henry Barton
Marjory Stewart Reid

William Henry Barton
Marjory Stewart Reid
💍 1908/1011

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
20

Lower Hutt
Johnsonville

6 months
2 years

Residence of Mr. Andrew Reid

08/1025

Andrew Reid (Father)

11 March 1908

Rev. R. Inglis

No	210
Date of Notice	11 March 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Barton	Marjory Stewart Reid
	💍 1908/1011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Andrew Reid
Folio	08/1025
Consent	Andrew Reid (Father)
Date of Certificate	11 March 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Inglis

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).