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 463

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1910 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

8 February 1910

Joseph Martin Gillespie
Ellen Elizabeth Walker

Joseph Martin Gllesbi
Ellen Elizabeth Walker
💍 1910/887

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

39
29

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
Life

Registrar's Office

10/944

8 February 1910

Registrar

No	86
Date of Notice	8 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Martin Gillespie	Ellen Elizabeth Walker
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Martin Gllesbi	Ellen Elizabeth Walker
	💍 1910/887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	10/944
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Registrar

8 February 1910

Leonard Melrose Craigie Robertson
Louisa Maud Fensome

Leonard Melrose Craigie Robertson
Louisa Maud Fensome
💍 1910/1116

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
22

Wellington
Wellington

5 months
2 months

Residence of Mr. H. Tremain, 19 Hankey Street

10/1139

8 February 1910

Staff Captain G. M. Lornie

No	87
Date of Notice	8 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Melrose Craigie Robertson	Louisa Maud Fensome
	💍 1910/1116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. Tremain, 19 Hankey Street
Folio	10/1139
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain G. M. Lornie

9 February 1910

George Herbert Ashworth
Clara Helen Collins

George Herbert Ashworth
Clara Helen Collins
💍 1910/1057

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace

10/1049

9 February 1910

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	88
Date of Notice	9 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Ashworth	Clara Helen Collins
	💍 1910/1057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace
Folio	10/1049
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

9 February 1910

Arthur Wood Mouat
Isabelle Gwilt Stone

Arthur Wood Mouat
Isabella Gwiet Stone
💍 1910/947

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

35
35

Wellington
Ohariu, Johnsonville

30 years
20 years

Anglican Church

10/1006

9 February 1910

Rev. F. H. Petrie

No	89
Date of Notice	9 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Wood Mouat	Isabelle Gwilt Stone
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Wood Mouat	Isabella Gwiet Stone
	💍 1910/947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Ohariu, Johnsonville
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	10/1006
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Petrie

11 February 1910

Francis John Adams
Adela Mary Constable

Francis John Adams
Adela Mary Constable
💍 1910/937

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

26
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
Life

St. Mark's Church

10/995

William Henry Constable, Father

11 February 1910

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	90
Date of Notice	11 February 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Adams	Adela Mary Constable
	💍 1910/937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	10/995
Consent	William Henry Constable, Father
Date of Certificate	11 February 1910
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. 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).