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 497

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hopkins

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

20 January 1911

Frank Stanley Broughton
Jessie Lancaster

Frank Stanley Broughton
Jessie Lancaster
💍 1911/2635

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

20
19

Kilbirnie
Wellington

6 months
3 years

Church of England

11/779

Thomas Edward Broughton, Father; Charles Lancaster, Father

30 January 1911

Rev. R. H. Hobday

No	86
Date of Notice	20 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Stanley Broughton	Jessie Lancaster
	💍 1911/2635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	11/779
Consent	Thomas Edward Broughton, Father; Charles Lancaster, Father
Date of Certificate	30 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Hobday

30 January 1911

Thomas John Winter Davey
Nellie Amelia Stollery

Thomas John Winter Cavey
Nellie Amelia Stollery
💍 1911/1381

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21
21

Miramar
Miramar

Life
16 years

Residence of Mr. John Bradbury, The Farm, Miramar

11/672

30 January 1911

Rev. W. Shirer

No	87
Date of Notice	30 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Winter Davey	Nellie Amelia Stollery
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas John Winter Cavey	Nellie Amelia Stollery
	💍 1911/1381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Miramar	Miramar
Length of Residence	Life	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Bradbury, The Farm, Miramar
Folio	11/672
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

30 January 1911

Percy Gibson Harwood
Ada Pryor

Percy Gibson Harwood
Ada Pryor
💍 1911/330

Widower (21.12.99)
Spinster

Accountant

47
36

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
2 years

Kent Terrace, Church Manse, 2 Pirie Street, Wellington

11/719

31 January 1911

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	88
Date of Notice	30 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Gibson Harwood	Ada Pryor
	💍 1911/330
Condition	Widower (21.12.99)	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace, Church Manse, 2 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	11/719
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

31 January 1911

Alfred Binder
Eliza Elizabeth Biggs

Alfred Binder
Eliza Elizabeth Biggs
💍 1911/1643

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

34
29

Lyall Bay
Lyall Bay

8 years
7 weeks

All Saints Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington

11/838

31 January 1911

Rev. H. G. Blackburne

No	89
Date of Notice	31 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Binder	Eliza Elizabeth Biggs
	💍 1911/1643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Lyall Bay	Lyall Bay
Length of Residence	8 years	7 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	11/838
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne

1 February 1911

David Pollock Porteous
Frances Victoria Kinnear

David Pollock Porteous
Frances Victoria Kinnear
💍 1911/1304

Divorcee (Decree absolute 19 July 1908)
Widow (1/1/1905)

Civil Servant

32
32

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
6 days

St. John's Church, Wellington

11/745

1 February 1911

Rev. J. Dickie

No	90
Date of Notice	1 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Pollock Porteous	Frances Victoria Kinnear
	💍 1911/1304
Condition	Divorcee (Decree absolute 19 July 1908)	Widow (1/1/1905)
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	11/745
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dickie

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).