Intentions to Marry, 1911 Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840446, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 557

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1911 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

372

2 May 1911

George Thomas King
Winifred Amelia Mercer

George Thomas King
Winifred Amelia Mercer
💍 1911/2892

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
16 years

Residence of Mr. Mercer, 36 Lerand Street

11/2572

William Mercer, Father

2 May 1911

Rev. T. K. Owen

No	372
Date of Notice	2 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas King	Winifred Amelia Mercer
	💍 1911/2892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Mercer, 36 Lerand Street
Folio	11/2572
Consent	William Mercer, Father
Date of Certificate	2 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. K. Owen

373

2 May 1911

George Ernest Shute
Louise Justine Birdie Vogt

George Ernest Shute
Louisa Justine Birdie Vogt
💍 1911/6064

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
3 years

Residence of Mr. Brooks, 4 Harbour View off Boulcott Street

11/5976

2 May 1911

Rev. W. S. Potter

No	373
Date of Notice	2 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Shute	Louise Justine Birdie Vogt
BDM Match (98%)	George Ernest Shute	Louisa Justine Birdie Vogt
	💍 1911/6064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Brooks, 4 Harbour View off Boulcott Street
Folio	11/5976
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter

374

2 May 1911

Frederick Grant Duncan Drummond
Olive May Duncan

Frederick Grant Duncan Drummond
Olive May Duncan
💍 1911/518

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

19
17

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
3 weeks

Registrar's Office

11/1889

Henry Drummond, Father; Andrew M. Duncan, Father

2 May 1911

Registrar

No	374
Date of Notice	2 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Grant Duncan Drummond	Olive May Duncan
	💍 1911/518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	11/1889
Consent	Henry Drummond, Father; Andrew M. Duncan, Father
Date of Certificate	2 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar

375

2 May 1911

Daniel Bernard McManus
Selina Ellen Little

Daniel Bernard McManus
Selina Ellen Little
💍 1911/5000

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker's Carter

25
19

Hutt
Petone

25 years
5 years

St. Andrew's Church

11/4852

Catherine Little, Mother

2 May 1911

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	375
Date of Notice	2 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Bernard McManus	Selina Ellen Little
	💍 1911/5000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker's Carter
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Petone
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	11/4852
Consent	Catherine Little, Mother
Date of Certificate	2 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

376

3 May 1911

William Henry Reward
Millicent Marie Hocking

William Henry Seward
Millicent Marie Hosking
💍 1911/6075

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

32
26

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 days

Residence of Mr. Reward, 49 Hall Street

11/5986

3 May 1911

Mr. S. H. Mudge

No	376
Date of Notice	3 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Reward	Millicent Marie Hocking
BDM Match (95%)	William Henry Seward	Millicent Marie Hosking
	💍 1911/6075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Reward, 49 Hall Street
Folio	11/5986
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Mr. S. H. Mudge

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).