Intentions to Marry, 1910 Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840443, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1910a), Wellington, , Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 512

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1910 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

331

25 April 1910

John Hercules Fargher
Jessie Starling Shaw

John Hercules Fargher
Jessie Stirling Shaw
💍 1910/2444

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

27
30

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
3 months

Residence of Mr John Shaw, Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, Wellington

10/2561

25 April 1910

Rev. B. Hutson

No	331
Date of Notice	25 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hercules Fargher	Jessie Starling Shaw
BDM Match (98%)	John Hercules Fargher	Jessie Stirling Shaw
	💍 1910/2444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Shaw, Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	10/2561
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Hutson

332

25 April 1910

George Henry Thomas Warren
May Louisa Kyle

George Henry Thomas Warner
May Louisa Kyle
💍 1910/2627

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 years

St. Peters Church, Wellington

10/2728

25 April 1910

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	332
Date of Notice	25 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Thomas Warren	May Louisa Kyle
BDM Match (96%)	George Henry Thomas Warner	May Louisa Kyle
	💍 1910/2627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	10/2728
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

333

26 April 1910

William Harwood
Christina Newman

William Harwood
Christina Newman
💍 1910/91

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter & Builder

32
28

Hutt
Hutt

4 1/2 years
7 weeks

Registrars Office, Wellington

10/2616

26 April 1910

Registrar

No	333
Date of Notice	26 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harwood	Christina Newman
	💍 1910/91
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter & Builder
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	7 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	10/2616
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Registrar

334

27 April 1910

George Piddocke Morris
Sara Desmant

George Pidduck Morris
Sara Dimant
💍 1910/2754

Widower
Spinster

Shipping Manager

54
46

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
35 years

Residence of Mr Desmant, Totara Grant Road, Wellington

10/2834

27 April 1910

Rev. Gibson Smith

No	334
Date of Notice	27 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Piddocke Morris	Sara Desmant
BDM Match (87%)	George Pidduck Morris	Sara Dimant
	💍 1910/2754
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Manager
Age	54	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Desmant, Totara Grant Road, Wellington
Folio	10/2834
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. Gibson Smith

335

27 April 1910

Andrew Butchart Wallace
Sarah Lister

Andrew Butchart Wallace
Sarah Lister
💍 1910/2574

Bachelor
Widow

Music Teacher

38
37

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
5 weeks

St. James Church, Wellington South

10/2673

27 April 1910

Rev. W. Shirer

No	335
Date of Notice	27 April 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Butchart Wallace	Sarah Lister
	💍 1910/2574
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Music Teacher
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington South
Folio	10/2673
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).