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 465

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

15 February 1910

James Watson Shaw
Kathleen Maud Elliott

James Watson Shaw
Kathleen Maud Elliott
💍 1910/1065

Bachelor
Spinster

Presbyterian Clergyman

26
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
20 years

Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington

10/1051

15 February 1910

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	96
Date of Notice	15 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Watson Shaw	Kathleen Maud Elliott
	💍 1910/1065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Presbyterian Clergyman
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	10/1051
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

15 February 1910

Thomas Frederick Fogden
Emily Louise Benn

Thomas Frederick Fogom
Emily Louisa Denn
💍 1910/957

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

41
30

Brooklyn
Mitchelltown

7 years
3 years

St Peters Church Wellington

10/998

16 February 1910

Rev G P Davys

No	97
Date of Notice	15 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Frederick Fogden	Emily Louise Benn
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Frederick Fogom	Emily Louisa Denn
	💍 1910/957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	41	30
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Mitchelltown
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Wellington
Folio	10/998
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev G P Davys

15 February 1910

Edward Mohamed Levi McLeary
Rosina Beatrice Marsh

Edward Mohamed Levi McLeary
Rosina Beatrice Marsh
💍 1910/65

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

18
18

Ngaio
Wellington

14 years
9 years

Registrars Office Wellington

10/958

Edward M Leary, Father. No person resident in Dominion having authority to give Consent in Case of Bride.

3 March 1910

Registrar

No	98
Date of Notice	15 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Mohamed Levi McLeary	Rosina Beatrice Marsh
	💍 1910/65
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Ngaio	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	10/958
Consent	Edward M Leary, Father. No person resident in Dominion having authority to give Consent in Case of Bride.
Date of Certificate	3 March 1910
Officiating Minister	Registrar

16 February 1910

Cecil James Harrison
Lily Clay Hewitt

Cecil James Harrison
Lily May Hewitt
💍 1910/948

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter

28
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

St Cuthberts Churchroom Palm Grove Wellington

10/1007

16 February 1910

Rev J Walker

No	99
Date of Notice	16 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil James Harrison	Lily Clay Hewitt
BDM Match (94%)	Cecil James Harrison	Lily May Hewitt
	💍 1910/948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	St Cuthberts Churchroom Palm Grove Wellington
Folio	10/1007
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev J Walker

100

16 February 1910

Thomas Frederick Charles Hepburn
Edith May Wood

Thomas Frederick Charles Hepburn
Edith May Wood
💍 1910/1066

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

24 yrs
18 mos

Residence of Mr J. Hepburn 26 Revans Street Wellington

10/1052

16 February 1910

Rev W Shirer

No	100
Date of Notice	16 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Frederick Charles Hepburn	Edith May Wood
	💍 1910/1066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 yrs	18 mos
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Hepburn 26 Revans Street Wellington
Folio	10/1052
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 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).