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 481

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Gibbert 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

6 January 1911

Francis William Smith
Ethel Aloretta Hughes

Francis William Smith
Ethel Alloretta Hughes
💍 1911/1269

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

30
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 month

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

11/788

4 January 1911

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Smith	Ethel Aloretta Hughes
BDM Match (98%)	Francis William Smith	Ethel Alloretta Hughes
	💍 1911/1269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	11/788
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

4 January 1911

Richard Henry Reg
Emily Jane Conroy

Richard Henry Reg
Emily Jane Conroy
💍 1911/1318

Widower
Widow

Plumber

59
55

Wellington
Wellington

9 days
6 days

St. Andrew's Church Manse, Hill St.

11/735

4 January 1911

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	7
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Reg	Emily Jane Conroy
	💍 1911/1318
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Plumber
Age	59	55
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Manse, Hill St.
Folio	11/735
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

4 January 1911

Charles Hezekiah Hill Harrison
Amy Havergal Rogers

Charles Hezekiah Hill Harrison
Amy Havergal Rogers
💍 1911/1281

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant, Tasmanian Government

36
19

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
2 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral

11/697

Walter James Rogers, Father

4 January 1911

Rev. J. A. McNickle

No	8
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hezekiah Hill Harrison	Amy Havergal Rogers
	💍 1911/1281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant, Tasmanian Government
Age	36	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral
Folio	11/697
Consent	Walter James Rogers, Father
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. McNickle

4 January 1911

Andrew Henderson
Widower 18 December 1910
Mary Ellis
Widow 30 December 1904

Andrew Henderson
Mary Ellis
💍 1911/1119

Widower
Widow

Boiler Maker

58
54

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
1 week

Registrar's Office, Wellington

11/571

4 January 1911

Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Henderson Widower 18 December 1910	Mary Ellis Widow 30 December 1904
	💍 1911/1119
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Boiler Maker
Age	58	54
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	11/571
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar

4 January 1911

John Albert Henry Schwass
Agnes Annie Elizabeth Wollerman

John Albert Henry Schwass
Agnes Annie Elizabeth Wollerman
💍 1911/1257

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
29

Wellington
Wellington

12 days
8 years

St. Mark's Church

11/199

4 January 1911

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	10
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Albert Henry Schwass	Agnes Annie Elizabeth Wollerman
	💍 1911/1257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	11/199
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

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).