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 886

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Benjamin Harper

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

4 January 1911

Robert William Gamble
Helen Isabella Blackford

Robert William Gamble
Helen Isabella Blackford
💍 1911/2143

Married but has not heard from or of his wife for 10 years last past
Widow

Laborer

35
36

Greymouth
Greymouth

35 years
10 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

11/1597

4 January 1911

Benjamin Harper, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Gamble	Helen Isabella Blackford
	💍 1911/2143
Condition	Married but has not heard from or of his wife for 10 years last past	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	35 years	10 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth
Folio	11/1597
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper, Registrar

6 January 1911

Hugh Steel
Ellen Catherine McGurk

Hugh Steel
Ellen Catherine McGurk
💍 1911/2142

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

24
28

Dunollie
Greymouth

5 years
8 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

11/1596

6 January 1911

Benjamin Harper, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Steel	Ellen Catherine McGurk
	💍 1911/2142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Dunollie	Greymouth
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth
Folio	11/1596
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Benjamin Harper, Registrar

7 January 1911

Arthur Thomas Boanas
Eva Davis

Arthur Thomas Boanas
Eva Davis
💍 1911/417

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Tailoress

24
19

Runanga
Runanga

2 years
2 1/2 years

The dwelling place of William Young of Schaef's Lane Greymouth

11/1637

The person in New Zealand authorised to give consent

23 January 1911

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	3
Date of Notice	7 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Boanas	Eva Davis
	💍 1911/417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Tailoress
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling place of William Young of Schaef's Lane Greymouth
Folio	11/1637
Consent	The person in New Zealand authorised to give consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

9 January 1911

Thomas Bowes
Lizzie Satterthwaite

Thomas Bowes
Lizzie Satterthwaite
💍 1911/415

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

24
22

Runanga
Runanga

5 years
1 week

Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth

11/1635

9 January 1911

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bowes	Lizzie Satterthwaite
	💍 1911/415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	5 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/1635
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

21 January 1911

Percy William Harold Pick
Ellen Douglas Pick

Percy William Harrold
Ellen Douglas Peck
💍 1911/416

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

35
33

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 days
33 years

The Residence of Charles William Pick, Alexander St. Greymouth

11/1636

21 January 1911

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	5
Date of Notice	21 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Harold Pick	Ellen Douglas Pick
BDM Match (85%)	Percy William Harrold	Ellen Douglas Peck
	💍 1911/416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Charles William Pick, Alexander St. Greymouth
Folio	11/1636
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

25 January 1911

Hugh McQuillan
Martha Adamson

Hugh Edward McQuillan
Martha Adamson
💍 1911/404

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

39
39

Ross
Greymouth

15 months
4 days

Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth

11/1625

25 January 1911

Rev. Geo. W. York

No	6
Date of Notice	25 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McQuillan	Martha Adamson
BDM Match (83%)	Hugh Edward McQuillan	Martha Adamson
	💍 1911/404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Ross	Greymouth
Length of Residence	15 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/1625
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. York

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).