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 896

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 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

3 July 1911

Harry Cecil Price
Ethel Allan (known as Katherine Lohnet)

Harry Cecil Price
Katharine Lohnet
💍 1911/5397

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25
21

Paroa, Greymouth
Paroa, Greymouth

6 months
8 years

Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth

11/5235

3 July 1911

Rev Geo W. York

No	47
Date of Notice	3 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Cecil Price	Ethel Allan (known as Katherine Lohnet)
BDM Match (69%)	Harry Cecil Price	Katharine Lohnet
	💍 1911/5397
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Paroa, Greymouth	Paroa, Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/5235
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W. York

4 July 1911

Henry McGrath
Emma Josephine Cockerell

Henry McGrath
Emma Josephine Cockerell
💍 1911/5240

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

22
22

Gladstone Siding, Greymouth
Dunollie, Greymouth

6 months
20 years 3 weeks

The Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth

11/5074

4 July 1911

Rev. D. P. Carew

No	48
Date of Notice	4 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McGrath	Emma Josephine Cockerell
	💍 1911/5240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Gladstone Siding, Greymouth	Dunollie, Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years 3 weeks
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/5074
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. P. Carew

5 July 1911

Patrick Hodgens Hickey
Rosanna Gertrude Rogers

Patrick Hodgins Hickey
Rosanna Gertrude Rogers
💍 1911/4711

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Teacher

29
21

Wellington, Greymouth
Blackball

10 weeks
16 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

11/4536

5 July 1911

The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth. Benjamin Harper.

No	49
Date of Notice	5 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Hodgens Hickey	Rosanna Gertrude Rogers
BDM Match (98%)	Patrick Hodgins Hickey	Rosanna Gertrude Rogers
	💍 1911/4711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Teacher
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington, Greymouth	Blackball
Length of Residence	10 weeks	16 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth
Folio	11/4536
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1911
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth. Benjamin Harper.

10 July 1911

Joseph Edward Smith
Lillian Arabella Smith

Joseph Edwards
Lillian Arabella Smith
💍 1911/5398

Bachelor
Spinster

Wharf hand

35
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

8 years
15 years

Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth

11/5236

10 July 1911

Rev Geo W. York

No	50
Date of Notice	10 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Smith	Lillian Arabella Smith
BDM Match (84%)	Joseph Edwards	Lillian Arabella Smith
	💍 1911/5398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wharf hand
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	8 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/5236
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W. York

14 July 1911

John Boyes Bell
Isabella Emma Bell

John Boyes
Isabella Emma Bell
💍 1911/5399

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
18

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 years
18 years

Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth

11/5237

Andrew Yuill Bell (Father)

14 July 1911

Rev Geo W. York

No	51
Date of Notice	14 July 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boyes Bell	Isabella Emma Bell
BDM Match (83%)	John Boyes	Isabella Emma Bell
	💍 1911/5399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church at Greymouth
Folio	11/5237
Consent	Andrew Yuill Bell (Father)
Date of Certificate	14 July 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W. York

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).