Intentions to Marry, 1912 Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840449, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 053

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1912 Registrar William Buchanan

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

145

20 September 1912

Victor Edward Ramlose
Ellen Kelleher

Victor Edward Ramlose
Ellen Kelleher
💍 1912/6154

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

33
29

Frasertown
Napier

23 years
2 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

12/5567

20 September 1912

Rev. Father O'Connor

No	145
Date of Notice	20 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Edward Ramlose	Ellen Kelleher
	💍 1912/6154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Frasertown	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	12/5567
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Connor

146

24 September 1912

George Henry Fuszard
Grace Kerr Lynch

George Henry Fuszard
Grace Kerr Lynch
💍 1912/7175

Bachelor
Divorced

Steward
Domestic Duties

37
29

Napier
Napier

37 years
18 months

House of John Griffin, Napier

12/7651

24 September 1912

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	146
Date of Notice	24 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Fuszard	Grace Kerr Lynch
	💍 1912/7175
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Steward	Domestic Duties
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	37 years	18 months
Marriage Place	House of John Griffin, Napier
Folio	12/7651
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

147

26 September 1912

John William Boden
Jessie Steward Hackett

John William Baden
Jessie Stewart Hackett
💍 1912/7591

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Housemaid

28
24

Napier
Napier

4 years
24 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

12/5589

26 September 1912

Rev. Canon Tuke

No	147
Date of Notice	26 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Boden	Jessie Steward Hackett
BDM Match (95%)	John William Baden	Jessie Stewart Hackett
	💍 1912/7591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Housemaid
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	12/5589
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke

148

27 September 1912

Harry Benjamin Trubshoe
Margaret Ann Strother

Harry Benjamin Trubshoe
Margaret Ann Strother
💍 1912/7592

Bachelor
Spinster

Pork Butcher
Domestic Duties

26
26

Napier
Napier

4 years
4 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

12/5590

27 September 1912

Rev. Canon Tuke

No	148
Date of Notice	27 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Benjamin Trubshoe	Margaret Ann Strother
	💍 1912/7592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pork Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	12/5590
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke

149

28 September 1912

Richard Benjamin Walter
Lucy Bracken

Richard Benjamin Walter
Lucy Bracken
💍 1912/9535

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

37
25

Hawkes Bay
Hawkes Bay

8 years
8 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier

12/4556

28 September 1912

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	149
Date of Notice	28 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Benjamin Walter	Lucy Bracken
	💍 1912/9535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Hawkes Bay	Hawkes Bay
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	12/4556
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 September 1912
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

150

30 September 1912

Francis Herbert Richard Rennett
Adelaide Lily Knapman

Francis Herbert Richard Rennett
Adelaide Lily Knapman
💍 1912/7182

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

26
20

Napier
Napier

14 years
20 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

12/7655

Jessie Maria Seymour, Mother

30 September 1912

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	150
Date of Notice	30 September 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Herbert Richard Rennett	Adelaide Lily Knapman
	💍 1912/7182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	12/7655
Consent	Jessie Maria Seymour, Mother
Date of Certificate	30 September 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

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).