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 471

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

126

28 February 1910

Charles Edward Johnston
June Pender

Charles Edward Johnston
Jane Pender
💍 1910/82

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
23

Ngaio
Ngaio

6 months
3 years

Registrars Office

10/952

28 February 1910

Registrar

No	126
Date of Notice	28 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Johnston	June Pender
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Edward Johnston	Jane Pender
	💍 1910/82
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Ngaio	Ngaio
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	10/952
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Registrar

127

28 February 1910

Richard Walter Brown
Ethel Maude Wright

Richard Walter Brown
Ethel Maude Wright
💍 1910/951

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

30
28

Wellington
Seatoun

Life
10 years

Anglican Church, Seatoun

10/1010

28 February 1910

Rev H G Blackburne

No	127
Date of Notice	28 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Walter Brown	Ethel Maude Wright
	💍 1910/951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Seatoun
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Seatoun
Folio	10/1010
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev H G Blackburne

128

28 February 1910

William Henry Sawyers
Catherine Eva Leers

William Henry Sawyers
Catherine Eva Leers
💍 1910/1096

Bachelor
Widow

Mariner

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
3 days

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

10/1117

28 February 1910

Rev S J Serpell

No	128
Date of Notice	28 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Sawyers	Catherine Eva Leers
	💍 1910/1096
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mariner
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	10/1117
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev S J Serpell

129

28 February 1910

Warren James Hicks
Helene Louise Frandsine Petersen

Warren James Hides
Heline Louise Frandsine Petersen
💍 1910/967

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

23
21

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

13 years
18 months

St Peters Church, Wellington

10/1002

28 February 1910

Rev G P Davys

No	129
Date of Notice	28 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Warren James Hicks	Helene Louise Frandsine Petersen
BDM Match (93%)	Warren James Hides	Heline Louise Frandsine Petersen
	💍 1910/967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	13 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	10/1002
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev G P Davys

130

28 February 1910

Sidney George Baker
Lillian Selby Whitehead

Sidney George Baker
Lillian Selby Whitehead
💍 1910/792

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

27
19

Wellington
Palmerston North

2 years
5 years

Emmanuel Congregational Church, Palmerston North

10/821

Joshua Whitehead (father)

28 February 1910

Rev D Hird

No	130
Date of Notice	28 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney George Baker	Lillian Selby Whitehead
	💍 1910/792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Emmanuel Congregational Church, Palmerston North
Folio	10/821
Consent	Joshua Whitehead (father)
Date of Certificate	28 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev D Hird

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).