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 640

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

768

12 October 1911

Alexander Low Duncan
Elizabeth Tubman

Alexander Low Duncan
Elizabeth Tubman
💍 1911/6932

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

35
30

Wellington
Wellington

11 months
18 months

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

11/4018

12 October 1911

Rev. C. F. Venning

No	768
Date of Notice	12 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Low Duncan	Elizabeth Tubman
	💍 1911/6932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	11/4018
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Venning

769

12 October 1911

Arthur Herbert Osten
Elsie May Claridge

Arthur Herbert Oslen
Elsie May Claridge
💍 1911/7242

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood Turner

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
Life

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

11/6955

12 October 1911

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	769
Date of Notice	12 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Herbert Osten	Elsie May Claridge
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Herbert Oslen	Elsie May Claridge
	💍 1911/7242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood Turner
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	11/6955
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

770

13 October 1911

Harry Valentine Roberts
Ethel Nelson

Harry Valentine Roberts
Ethel Nelson
💍 1911/7384

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

23
18

Brooklyn
Wellington

11 years
5 years

St. Andrews Church, The Terrace, Wellington

11/6997

James Ferguson, father of bride

13 October 1911

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	770
Date of Notice	13 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Valentine Roberts	Ethel Nelson
	💍 1911/7384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	11/6997
Consent	James Ferguson, father of bride
Date of Certificate	13 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

771

14 October 1911

Alfred Roy Allan
Annie McDowell

Alfred Roy Allan
Annie McDonell
💍 1911/6870

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 28 April 1900

Sailmaker

32
38

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. J. McDermett, 92 Majoribank Street, Wellington

11/6901

14 October 1911

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	771
Date of Notice	14 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Roy Allan	Annie McDowell
BDM Match (96%)	Alfred Roy Allan	Annie McDonell
	💍 1911/6870
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 28 April 1900
Profession	Sailmaker
Age	32	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. McDermett, 92 Majoribank Street, Wellington
Folio	11/6901
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

772

14 October 1911

Alfred Ingwell Mandious Boull Nelson
Catherine Florence O'Brien

Alfred Ingwell Mandious Boull Nielson
Catherine Florence O'Brien
💍 1911/6918

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

33
36

S.S. Amokura
Wellington

6 years
17 years

Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington

11/6950

14 October 1911

Rev. Mr. Peoples

No	772
Date of Notice	14 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ingwell Mandious Boull Nelson	Catherine Florence O'Brien
BDM Match (99%)	Alfred Ingwell Mandious Boull Nielson	Catherine Florence O'Brien
	💍 1911/6918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	S.S. Amokura	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	11/6950
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Peoples

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).