Intentions to Marry, 1909 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840440, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 427

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1909 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

536

22 June 1909

Arthur Archie Adams
Maude Josephville Seawright

Arthur Archie Adams
Maude Josephine Seawright
💍 1909/7715

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapers Assistant

21
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

St Josephs Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

09/2834

22 June 1909

Rev. F. O'Shea

No	536
Date of Notice	22 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Archie Adams	Maude Josephville Seawright
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Archie Adams	Maude Josephine Seawright
	💍 1909/7715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapers Assistant
Age	21	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	09/2834
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. O'Shea

537

22 June 1909

Victor Frederick Cook
Winifred Mary Harcourt

Victor Frederick Cook
Winifred Mary Harcourt
💍 1909/7716

Bachelor
Spinster

Conductor

29
20

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
6 months

St Josephs Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

09/2835

James Harcourt, father

22 June 1909

Rev. F. O'Shea

No	537
Date of Notice	22 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Frederick Cook	Winifred Mary Harcourt
	💍 1909/7716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Conductor
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	09/2835
Consent	James Harcourt, father
Date of Certificate	22 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. O'Shea

538

23 June 1909

Alfred Roger Greenwood
Isobel Dorothy Carley

Alfred Roger Greenwood
Isabel Dorothy Catley
💍 1909/3472

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
8 years

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral

09/4716

23 June 1909

Rev. T. H. Sprott

No	538
Date of Notice	23 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Roger Greenwood	Isobel Dorothy Carley
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred Roger Greenwood	Isabel Dorothy Catley
	💍 1909/3472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral
Folio	09/4716
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Sprott

539

23 June 1909

Henry Stewartson Irvine
Margaret Isabel Lambert

Henry Stewartson Irvine
Margaret Isabel Lambert
💍 1909/1815

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
14 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

09/2867

23 June 1909

Rev. W. S. Potter

No	539
Date of Notice	23 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Stewartson Irvine	Margaret Isabel Lambert
	💍 1909/1815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	09/2867
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter

540

24 June 1909

John Hood-Attwood Skipper
Olive Zingra Wallen

John Hood Attwood Skipper
Olive Zingza Wallen
💍 1909/1620

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
1 month

Salvation Army Maternity Home, 37 Thompson Street, Wellington

09/2727

24 June 1909

Rev. A. H. Johnson

No	540
Date of Notice	24 June 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hood-Attwood Skipper	Olive Zingra Wallen
BDM Match (95%)	John Hood Attwood Skipper	Olive Zingza Wallen
	💍 1909/1620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Maternity Home, 37 Thompson Street, Wellington
Folio	09/2727
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Johnson

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).