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 512

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

101

5 February 1912

George Louis Villars
Gladys Hughes Hook

George Louis Villars
Gladys Hughes Hook
💍 1912/1179

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
9 months

Sacred Heart Church Hill Street Wellington

12/756

5 February 1912

Rev. J. P. M. Hickson

No	101
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Louis Villars	Gladys Hughes Hook
	💍 1912/1179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	9 months
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church Hill Street Wellington
Folio	12/756
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. M. Hickson

102

5 February 1912

Harold Max Wysocki
Miriam Alice bochman

Harold Max Wysocki
Miriam Alice Couchman
💍 1912/1045

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

21
23

Petone
Petone

3 days
Life

Residence of Mrs bochman 10 Tory Street Wellington

12/678

5 February 1912

Rev. A. Thomson

No	102
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Max Wysocki	Miriam Alice bochman
BDM Match (95%)	Harold Max Wysocki	Miriam Alice Couchman
	💍 1912/1045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs bochman 10 Tory Street Wellington
Folio	12/678
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

103

5 February 1912

John Houlston
Vida barter Welch

John Houlston
Vida Carter Welch
💍 1912/1086

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

31
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 1/2 years
2 weeks

St Paul's pro Cathedral Wellington

12/712

5 February 1912

Rev. D. C. Bates

No	103
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Houlston	Vida barter Welch
BDM Match (97%)	John Houlston	Vida Carter Welch
	💍 1912/1086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Paul's pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	12/712
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. C. Bates

104

5 February 1912

Emilio Bernasconi
Marion Eleanor Nesbitt

Emilio Bernasconi
Marion Eleanor Nesbitt
💍 1912/1032

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

30
18

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
7 years

St John's Manse Church The Terrace Wellington

12/633

John Henry Nesbitt. Father

5 February 1912

Rev. J. Gibb

No	104
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emilio Bernasconi	Marion Eleanor Nesbitt
	💍 1912/1032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St John's Manse Church The Terrace Wellington
Folio	12/633
Consent	John Henry Nesbitt. Father
Date of Certificate	5 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

105

5 February 1912

Allen Hood Benham
Ethel Maria Andrews

Allan Hood Benham
Ethel Maria Andrews
💍 1912/1407

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

23
23

Brooklyn
Wellington

12 months
10 days

Primitive Methodist Manse 22 Webb Street Wellington

12/1034

5 February 1912

Rev. H. S. Potter

No	105
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Hood Benham	Ethel Maria Andrews
BDM Match (97%)	Allan Hood Benham	Ethel Maria Andrews
	💍 1912/1407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	10 days
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Manse 22 Webb Street Wellington
Folio	12/1034
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Potter

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).